Demons of the Past
by Ceies
Summary: For Enji Todoroki, hero name Endeavor, reconciling with the past is easier said than done. Even more so, when a dead son comes back to haunt him.
1. The Todoroki Family

Hallo,

To understand this story, you don't need to read my first MAH-fic: Enji's Endeavor. Demons of the Past can stand completely on its own as long as you know the Manga Canon all the way to Chapter 192 / The Todoroki Family.

For everybody who's read Enji's Endeavor: This story can be seen as a sort of sequel. There is one (small) difference though: while Touya's 'death' in Enji's Endeavor happened when he was still a young child, here it happened much later, when he was already seventeen.

 **For now, I've scheduled the next chapter in two weeks.** If I haven't uploaded by Sunday the 17th you can just annoy me via pm :D Then I have probably forgotten it. I hope that later I can speed up the uploading Schedule a bit, but for now, that has to do.

Trigger Warnings and Ratings: For Now I go with Teen and up Audiences. There is some Graphic Depiction of Violence but it should mostly be comparable to the Manga.

Greetings, Ceies

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This Story is Beta-Read by **The Kindly One**. Thank you so much for all your hard work!

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 **The Todoroki Family**

"Natsuo?" Enji knocked softly at his son's door. He waited anxiously, but there was no reaction from the other side. Enji knew Natsuo was in there though, he could hear him behind the door. Angry for being ignored, he moved to slide the door open, then he suddenly stopped, his hand against the wood. He was…afraid? Natsuo had shouted and raged against him earlier, now Enji desperately needed to talk to him. Make things right…somehow. But he couldn't just burst in.

He knocked again, more forcefully.

If Natsuo could just listen for a moment, let him explain, allow him to apologize. Enji silently begged the door to open. If his son denied him that chance…he'd go back to university tomorrow, back to his dorm, away from Enji, perhaps for good.

Still no answer. Should he just enter? It was his house, after all! Was it cowardice that stopped him? "I would like to speak to you, Natsuo." Nothing. And there were no sounds from the inside that would indicate that the boy was even contemplating opening the door.

Enji closed his eyes, leaned with his forehead against the door, waiting, then he sighed in what felt like defeat. "Come out, when you're willing to talk," suggested Enji. "I'll be here." He left the door and the young man behind it as it was.

Back in the dining room, he found Fuyumi cleaning the table. "Is Shoto already gone?" asked Enji as he took some of the bowls and followed her into the kitchen where he helped her put them away into the dishwasher. He was aware of her wondering glances at him, as he normally didn't do much work in the house. He had a tight schedule and earned enough to hire a maid for most things.

"He could only stay for dinner, really," she explained after a moment. Then she laughed lightly. "And he couldn't really let that teacher of his wait for too long."

That was true, Enji assumed, remembering the hero he had seen when he had arrived here. Still, he'd hoped to have more time.

When he finished putting the dishes away, he straightened and turned around only to see Fuyumi staring at him. "They'll come around," said the young woman suddenly as if to reassure him. "I can see you mean it and that means a lot to me. They'll see it too and …"

She didn't finish the sentence and after a moment of just looking at each other she shrugged helplessly. "Shoto will," she finally declared.

With Natsuo, he knew himself, that even should his middle child realize that his intentions were true, he might not be willing to look past Enji's prior transgressions. He'd have to live with that if that were the case.

"Tea?" asked Fuyumi after a moment of silence and ten minutes later they found themselves sitting in front of the TV with steaming cups of green tea in front of them.

They watched the first few minutes of the news, but when his battle with the Nomu came up and he watched himself battle with the dark beast for the first time on TV, he noticed Fuyumi looked a bit pale. He himself hadn't seen the TV -footage yet, and watching his own face getting ripped open like this made him physically uncomfortable. Still, he'd have to scrutinize that fight soon, to iron out some performance issues and mistakes that were made during the battle. Enji found himself watching intently, even if it wasn't a nice sight. The cameras were far enough away that he couldn't see too much detail, but it was enough to get an idea of how bad it had been.

"Can you …?" Fuyumi mumble next to him and as he glanced over at her, he realized she looked almost worse than he felt remembering those injuries. She was obviously uncomfortable.

He quickly changed the channel at random until he was sure they were at a channel without any coverage of his battle. It was a bad soap opera, but Fuyumi seemed to feel better immediately with the sappy romance and cheap humor, so he left it on.

When he felt her touch his arm after a moment, gripping his sleeve, he turned to her again, surprised at the sudden contact, but she was looking at the TV-screen. "I thought you would die," explained Fuyumi after another moment. "We all did, I think."

Enji didn't know what to say to that. There had been a point in the battle when he himself had thought he would die, but that was probably not what she wanted to hear now. He put his hand on hers still grasping onto his sleeve. "I'm fine."

She laughed hoarsely. "Yeah? You don't really look …" He knew she was speaking of his scar, and maybe it was a good thing she couldn't see the other scars most prominently on his left arm. The beast had pretty much flayed his skin there. "I … Natsuo and Shoto were worried, too," she said after hesitating for just a moment. "I know it. Natsuo got really angry, whe-…"

Suddenly, they got interrupted by loud steps hurrying across the corridor behind them.

"Natsuo?" Enji asked , turning around, but he hadn't even turned completely when he heard the front door open and forcefully shut again.

Enji wanted to stand up and follow him, but Fuyumi didn't let go of his sleeve. She didn't say anything, didn't explain whether she wanted him to leave Natsuo alone or just give him some time or whether she wanted her father to stay with her for a bit longer. He didn't ask her about it and just sat back down silently.

That evening he waited until late into the night, long after Fuyumi had already gone to bed, for Natsuo to come home. Sometime in the early morning he fell asleep for a few minutes and then decided to retreat to his bedroom. He still felt a bit sore from the fight and needed the rest.

"Did Natsuo come back again?" he asked Fuyumi when he met her for breakfast.

"No. He went back to his dorm, I think." She looked at her smartphone then back at him, but she didn't tell him what he had written exactly. "I think he just needs a bit alone time."

Enji nodded. They ate in quiet conversation. It was a bit awkward. He tried not to talk about his work, which didn't leave him with much to talk about, so he let her do the talking for the most part.

"And Ikkaku finally learn ed to control his quirk," she told him happily. "I've told you about him."

"The flower-kid," Enji remembered. She had told him the story about how a kid who had the ability to make flowers grow faster, had lost control over his ability in class leading to the lone indoor plant that had adorned Fuyumi's classroom to take over the entire window front.

"Don't call him that," reprimanded Fuyumi with a frown. "I told you he doesn't like it."

He raised a hand apologetically. "Alright. I'm sorry, I forgot. So, what did he do?"

Fuyumi explained to him how the boy had grown a few beautiful Forget-me-nots. Fuyumi even rushed into her room to show Enji the bundle of flowers and a piece of art a different kid had gifted her. Enji didn't really care that much for the quirks and hobbies of his daughter's students, but he had realized a long time ago that she liked talking about them a lot.

He had taken this day and the next one off after his battle to recuperate and rest. So they spent the day together for the most part, until Fuyumi had a call from one of the parents of her students leaving her occupied for a few hours.

It was an altogether uneventful but nice Saturday. In the evening he checked his phone, found no new message and called Natsuo for the third time that day. As always it went straight to voicemail. Natsuo apparently had his number blocked. He didn't even know why he kept calling, when it was obvious that this was to no avail.

He wanted to ask Fuyumi whether he could have her phone but let the idea slide after short contemplation. He called Shoto instead.

Shoto let it ring three times before he picked up. "Father?" he asked into the phone, then hesitating for a moment. "Dad, what's up?"

Enji didn't even know what to talk about. "Hey, yeah, it's me. Nothing, really." There was an awkward pause. "I just wanted to know how you're doing."

There was a short moment of silence. "Dad …" started Shoto in a tone as if to tell him off, that he had no time to talk if there was nothing important. But then he seemed to decide differently. There was an obvious shift in tone. "Yeah, I'm fine. How about you?"

Enji couldn't help but laugh at the awkwardness of the phone call. He sat down on the couch and stared blankly at the wall. "I'm pretty horrible at this, huh?" He paused shortly, but Shoto didn't say anything. "No, I'm fine too. How is school?"

"Nothing eventful happened." There was another longer pause, in which Shoto apparently waited for Enji to say something, but Enji remained silent. A sigh came through the line. "Aizawa-sensei had us run laps around the training field. And Sato helped me bake a cake for Eri-chan."

"Eri-chan?" he asked. He didn't really know Sato either, knew hardly any of Shoto's classmate s unless they'd stood out during the Sports Festival or made the news through some other event. But he should probably not ask about too many people in Shoto's life, to not make it obvious how little he actually knew.

"Oh … She's Aizawa-sensei's foster child … or something. He takes care of her. So, she's going to live with us. She had it really rough, I heard, but I don't ... I really only know what Midoriya told me."

That was probably that kid, Sir Nighteye, Eraserhead and the other heroes had saved a few weeks ago. He wasn't really privy to the details, but he knew that they had saved a girl that had remained in quarantine in the hospital for quite a while because of something to do with her quirk. He'd heard that Eraserhead had taken over guardianship.

Whatever had happened there, much of it was classified to such a degree that even he didn't have access to the full report of that mission, despite the League of Villains being involved. The League of Villains … "Be careful," he heard himself mutter. He didn't know. Maybe the League was interested in this Eri-chan and if that was so, it would draw another target on UA.

"Midoriya?" he repeated the name, because it was probably not legal or safe for them to talk about classified information on their private phones. Talking about it with Shoto – who still had no security clearance or connection to the case in the first place – wasn't allowed anyway, even with what little information Enji had. Talking about another of Shoto's classmates was a safe topic he guessed. He at least thought he remembered this Midoriya. "That's this All Might-Wannabe, right?" He remembered him from the tournament mostly.

"Father …" Shoto's voice was somewhere between exasperated, uneasy and defensive.

Enji suddenly realized it probably wasn't a wise choice mentioning All Might in front of his son just yet. Just hearing Enji talk about him probably gave Shoto flashbacks to his harsh training with his father.

"He's the one you fought against during the tournament," added Enji hurriedly to distract from his prior comment.

He heard Shoto breathe audibly. "Yeah," came the answer in a calm voice. "He is a lot like All Might, I guess. He admires him," relented Shoto after a moment.

"Shoto," started Enji a bit helplessly. "I know I'm … We don't have to talk about All Might."

"It's probably better," agreed Shoto.

"Yes." He waited for a moment. "Look, I know, I … I made a lot of mistakes. I'm sorry, you know?" There was an unintelligible answer from the other side of the line. "We don't have to talk about it now. Or ever, if you don't want to. I just want you to know."

"I know," said Shoto after a while.

"Good. I'm glad you like it at school." He looked at the clock. It was getting late. "You probably want to … Anyway, it was nice of you to visit yesterday."

"It was good," came a quiet response. Enji waited for more, but nothing else came. He was a bit disappointed at the lack of response.

"Have you heard from Natsuo?" He asked after a moment.

"He's back at his dorm. He sent a message … early today." Shoto didn't offer any new information. Again, there was an awkward pause.

Enji nodded stupidly – Shoto wouldn't be able to see it. "Alright. I guess I'll leave you be, then. Bet, you don't want to spend your entire evening … Well, nice talking to you."

"Likewise." There was another pause and Enji was about to end the call when he heard Shoto's voice again. "Dad? I … I mean it. I mean, I told you I couldn't forgive you so easily …" Enji nodded blankly at the wall, once more. "But I do appreciate…this."

Enji smiled wistfully. That was a first step, he assumed. "Take care," answered Enji. Then he hesitated again. "And Shoto? I hope you know you can call me, right? When you need… when you have a problem."

The silence was a bit longer than it probably should be. "Yeah," said Shoto, finally, but Enji didn't know if he really meant it.


	2. A Family Matter

**A Family Matter**

Natsuo didn't pick up the entire Sunday either. Nor the next few days. Enji just let it be. He kept calling, but he stopped the call as soon as he got voicemail. He'd just have to give him time, like Fuyumi had said.

He also stopped asking Fuyumi and Shoto about Natsuo. He didn't want to pressure them into a situation where they had to decide between answering his questions and betraying Natsuo's trust. Even more so, since he had the distinct feeling that even with Fuyumi putting obviously a lot of effort into their growing relationship and Shoto seemingly warming up to him with time, they would probably still choose Natsuo over him. And then he'd lose what little progress he had made.

He just had to give him time. Only a few days had passed after all.

He went back to work on Monday, apprehended a few minor villains, but spent most of his time going over his fight with the Nomu to find the mistakes to prevent the next time and analyze the beast and his encounter with Dabi more thoroughly.

Thursday, he found himself thinking the Nomu attack over again. It didn't leave him any peaceful moments anymore. There were so many open questions.

Why had the Nomu attacked? What had they wanted to achieve? Had Endeavor and Hawks been its target? It clearly hadn't been interested in destroying the city, only in fighting somebody strong. Then, if so, the damage to the city might just have been collateral damage. If they had come specifically for Endeavor and Hawks, how had they'd known they'd be there. Even seeing the two heroes walking through the town, it was unlikely they had just spontaneously come up with their plan of attack from scratch. Surely the Nomu must have been prepared for an attack already and had been waiting in the area to be let loose.

It gave him a headache thinking about the possibilities. Had the League of Villains planned to attack the city long before Endeavor had arrived? Then Hawks alone might have been the target. Had they only planned the attack spontaneously when they found the top two heroes at one place? Then that would mean they could mount an attack of that magnitude seemingly out of nowhere at any given place and time. Had it all just been a coincidence? He refused to believe that. Or had the target actually been Endeavor, or both Endeavor and Hawks, the top two heroes? It might have been an attempt to bring down the top two heroes publicly thus weaken the people's trust in heroes even further. But then that would mean that – assuming they couldn't just mount an attack like that without careful preparation – they must have known about Endeavor and Hawks meeting.

A traitor maybe? Another traitor … He suspected there must be one in UA, already. But UA wasn't informed about his trip, so he might be looking at a second leak. Somewhere in his or Hawks' office or maybe they had been spied on during the Award Ceremony, where they had arranged their team-up.

He found himself pressing the button on his office phone, calling his secretary.

"Mr. Endeavor," asked the man on the other end.

"Bring me the records of my current employees, please."

There was a short pause of shocked silence. "All of them, Sir?"

"Yes, I need to check something."

"I … Of course, Sir. Right away."

The call ended with that.

Endeavor felt bad about suspecting his colleagues. Most of them were hand-picked, and he had worked with some of them for many years. He wasn't exactly close to them, their relationship being purely professional, and Endeavor was never one to befriend fellow heroes and sidekicks on the job, but he trusted them. He never hired anybody he felt he couldn't trust. Many of them had even saved his life on occasion.

Still, he couldn't just ignore the possibility of a traitor and before he'd bring the issue to Hawks or the event-team from the Billboard Chart Ceremony – before he suspected others – he should probably clean up his own agency if necessary.

He didn't really know what he'd be looking for in the records, if he were honest. But a first overview over potential suspects, maybe already excluding some, would probably be a good first step, he thought. He'd have to talk with Hawks, though. Sooner or later.

Whether the possible traitor came from his or from Hawks' side Hawks had to know, regardless. He had brought the topic up with Hawks before, but the young man had suspected the villains had just seen them in the city and planned their attack from there. It seemed unlikely to Endeavor. But it was a possibility he couldn't just disregard, either.

Weirdly enough, he trusted Hawks. He hardly knew the man and just a week ago he hadn't particularly cared for him either. During the ceremony he had been sure the winged hero had an agenda of his own, whatever that may be. He still was certain of that, today. However, he was almost sure that their goals aligned. They stood on the same side, wanted the same thing. At least for now. Of that he was certain. The young man had also saved his life back during the fight. Without Hawks' assistance Endeavor was fairly certain he wouldn't have made it out alive. If the attack had been an attempt at his life, against Endeavor not Hawks, and if Hawks had been on the side of the villains, he could have just let him die. It wouldn't even have raised suspicion, with the Nomu being so much stronger than both Endeavor and Hawks. Heroes died during villain attacks all the time.

He looked up as the door opened and he watched his secretary push a cart filled with different folders and files stacked on top of each other into his office. That was more paperwork than Endeavor had expected. Of course his office had also digitalized most information, but due to the danger through hacking, especially with some nasty villains out there that could just steal, obscure or delete digital information – there had been a few incidents – he had gone back to paper a few years back, having the more classified information only on paper and anything else both in paper and digitally to prevent it from getting lost.

"Can I ask what this is about?" asked the secretary carefully.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on firing people," assured Endeavor. Not unless they turned out to be leaking information, that was. "I just have to check something."

The cart stopped in the middle of the great office. His secretary looked up at him, after he secured the cart, so it wouldn't roll away.

"I didn't think you would be firing people, sir," said the man. "Regarding our current caseload, that would be unwise and financially we don't need to cut any losses either. That wasn't my concern."

Enji raised an eyebrow. Yeah, the man was smart. That was why he was working here, after all. He was of course right. If anything, they should probably be looking for another sidekick or intern and some more people for management.

"Does it have to do with the Nomu-incident?" The man finally brought up his suspicions.

"What do you mean, Inari-san?" asked Endeavor innocently, walking up to the massive stack of paperwork.

"I've worked here for eleven years now," said Inari indignantly. "Five of these years as your personal secretary. You have never before asked for our complete records on all of our staff."

Enji met his searching eyes, stubbornly refusing to offer any information and fearing that if he evaded that staring match he'd admit to his suspicions.

"Don't you trust me anymore?"

"Of course, I trust you," muttered Endeavor at once. He had worked closely with the man for years after all. They weren't friends, but he did trust him professionally.

"You know what I suspect, sir?" Endeavor shook his head, but he feared the man had drawn the right conclusion. "This … Nomu-thing, it was after you, wasn't it?"

Endeavor grunted in affirmation. "I think so." It had talked about fighting the strongest.

"So, it must have known you were there." Endeavor nodded again. "And despite your stroll through the city when you were probably seen, it seems unlikely that the attack was just a spontaneous decision by the League." Again, Endeavor only nodded in agreement. "So, the League of Villains, who sent the monster, must have known you'd be there that day."

Endeavor looked at the dark-haired man who stared back at him defiantly. "I've been keeping your schedule for the last five years now. So, it would be logical that I am your first suspect as to who might have leaked this information."

Endeavor almost winced at being caught out. "Somebody probably did," said Endeavor. "But I don't suspect you." There was a doubtful look from his secretary. "Or anybody specific at this point. I can't just ignore it, though. So, at this point, you might as well all be suspects … I am sorry for that."

The man nodded in understanding. "If there is a leak in this agency I am as eager to find it as you are."

"Good," said Endeavor not willing to completely disregard Inari as a suspect, yet.

Before they could talk any further though, the phone on his desk suddenly rang. He stared at it a bit surprised. Normally most of his calls came in at Inari's desk and he would decide which ones to pass on to him. There were only a few people with his direct call-through. He motioned for Inari to wait for a moment, as he went over to his desk. The number on his display was Fuyumi's mobile, he realized.

"Fuyumi?" he asked as he took the call. "I'm right in the middle of something. Can I call you back?"

"Eh … I … I think …" she seemed to agree rather reluctantly.

He sighed. He had decided to turn over a new leaf with his family. Part of that was that he tried to be there for them when they needed him. "Is something the matter?" he asked quietly, waving to Inari, that this might take a moment and he should sit down for now.

"I don't … really know?" It was more of a question than a statement. "It's about Natsuo."

"What is it with Natsuo?" Had the boy decided he wanted to speak to him now of all times? He glanced at the clock on the desk. It was early evening, and in about two hours he had to go on patrol. He at least wanted to start going through these records before that.

"I don't know." This was weird. Did she not know why she had called him? "You see, I haven't heard from him."

"Haven't heard from him?" he repeated sitting down on his office chair. "What do you mean?"

"It means, I haven't heard from him since Saturday morning." That was a bit worrying, Endeavor thought. However consistently Natsuo had always blocked his calls over the last year, he had held constant contact with both his siblings and mother.

"What about Shoto and your mother?" he asked after a moment.

"That's just it. They don't know either. Saturday … Saturday morning he wrote both of us, that he'd go back to his dorm, to think about some things. He told me he'd call me again later on. And back when we all were together, he had asked Shoto to visit him someday soon at UA. But he didn't call back again after that."

"You mean you didn't have any contact at all for the last five days?" Now, he was worried.

"No. Not me, not Shoto. I thought that was weird. I called a few times, but I never got through. So, I naturally assumed he would just need more time alone to think things through. He had said he wanted some alone time."

There was more to this, Endeavor knew. A reason why she was panicking the way she was all of a sudden. This morning when he had had breakfast with Fuyumi everything had seemed fine. "Why are you worried just now?"

"I … I visited Mum today, and she has been worried, because Natsuo hadn't called her. He normally calls every Wednesday."

Endeavor looked at the calendar on the wall, knowing already what day it was. Thursday. So Natsuo should have called yesterday. "Every week?" He asked to make sure. He felt oddly calm. There was a panic rising in his insides, slowly growing with every word Fuyumi spoke. But still, outwardly he felt calm. As if it was the hero speaking, not a worried father.

"Yes. Since he started university, he called every Wednesday. We … We thought you wouldn't let us have contact with her while we lived under your roof, so back then the visits and calls were always irregular … when you weren't there." She seemed to only hesitate a little at admitting to these secrets behind his back. He wasn't angry. He had never really demanded they didn't visit or had contact with their mother, at least he didn't think he had. It wasn't like he had actually tried to keep her away from their children. It had just seemed the right decision to put her into the mental clinic. He hadn't thought about how his actions might have been interpreted by his children, really. It was just one more failure, now, that he had to atone for. But the fact that Fuyumi now so liberally admitted to what she thought might have been a slight against his rules spoke volumes as to how worried she must be. "But after he moved out, he called regularly and visited as often as he could. Mother hasn't heard from him since before your battle with the Nomu. And neither Shoto nor I have heard from him since Saturday."

Endeavor let the information sink in for a moment. "I have to make some calls," he said eventually. "I'll be home as soon as possible."

"O-Okay." It seemed like now, that she had told him, her feelings of fear were finally taking the better of her.

"Did you call Shoto?"

"Not … Not, yet. I asked him if he knew anything, so he might be suspicious. But I didn't tell …" He thought he heard her cry.

"That's okay. I will call him." He hesitated. "You should maybe rest until I'm there. Don't worry. We'll find out what's going on. Maybe it's nothing after all." He didn't really feel very confident in this statement.

As he put down the receiver, Inari looked at him with worry.

"Family troubles?"

"Apparently, … my son is missing." He stared at the phone for a moment, then at Inari and the mountain of paperwork. He couldn't do that now.

"Shoto?"

"Natsuo." He didn't even know if the man knew any of his other children. Shoto had had an internship here, and it wasn't like the others ever visited. But Inari didn't comment about it.

"I see." They both looked at the mountain of files and folders.

"I can't do this now," declared Endeavor.

"Of course. Can I do something, sir?"

Endeavor looked at him. "Would you … sort through them. Throw out everybody who wouldn't know where I was last week." Not everybody in this agency knew everything, after all. "And scan the remaining for … anything suspicious. I don't know." He shrugged helplessly. "Contacts or a past with the League of Villains. Just … sort through them once."

It was a lot to ask for, since this was surely not part of Inari's job description and would take a lot of time. "Of course, sir. Anything else?"

He thought for a moment. "Tell Avalanche that he should take over my patrol today." Avalanche was his most senior sidekick. A snow-quirk user. "And you might also just cancel all my dates tomorrow morning." Just in case this couldn't be resolved in a single evening.

"Of course."

He walked to the door, not bothering to get out of his hero outfit. He wasn't sure himself if he was searching for his son as a worried father now, or as the hero Endeavor taking on a new case. It didn't really matter, he gathered. "And have somebody call my son's university. The contacts should be in my files. Ask them whether they know anything about his course attendance this week."

He hurried out of the room and along the corridor to the elevator before he even really heard the confirmative answer by his secretary. He'd already dialed Natsuo's number in the elevator and as soon as he stepped outside, pressed the green button. As always it went straight to voicemail.

This time, he didn't just end the call. "This is your father," he started in a rushed voice. "Your sister just called me. Nobody has heard from you in a while. We're worried. Call back, if you hear this. Or at least call your siblings." He pushed the door of his agency's skyscraper open with one shoulder hurrying outside. "Natsuo? I hope you're fine. So just call somebody."

He ended the call with that, rushing to the parking area where his car waited. He landed in the middle of evening rush hour, almost coming to a complete stop several times and cursing loudly, of half a mind to just ditch the car and run for his home. He still was in hero costume, so it wouldn't even raise any suspicions if he used his quirk to move. Then again … he was the Number One hero and seeing him rushing through the city in a panicked frenzy in the middle of rush hour might just have the effect of throwing the entire city into a state of panic, searching for the unknown threat he was rushing towards.


	3. Allies

Hi,

sorry for the delay. I couldn't find the time to post and also forgot a bit about it tbh.

* * *

 **Allies**

In the end, even with the traffic, it still just took him 75 minutes until he was home.

"There you are!" Fuyumi rushed towards him as if she had been lying in wait all this time. She probably had. His advice to rest apparently hadn't helped. She halted shortly as she saw him in his hero-costume, then she just seemed to accept it. "Have you found anything out?"

"Not yet," answered Endeavor. "I've called him but couldn't reach him either. Have you already visited him at his dorm?"

"I did earlier today. He wasn't there but it was probably in the midst of some of his lessons. So he might have just been there."

Endeavor nodded. "Do you know any of his friends?"

Fuyumi furrowed her brow. "I think he has a girlfriend, but I don't know her name." More new information for Enji. "And … I really only know his old neighbor in the dorm."

"Call him. Ask if he has seen Natsuo. And if he knows that girlfriend."

Fuyumi nodded brusquely. He looked at the clock. "I'll go to the dorm myself, as soon as rush hour is over. Don't want to get stuck in traffic again. For now, …" He pulled out his work phone and dialed the number of his office. With him not in it, the call would either go directly to Inari or to whichever office worker would be free next.

"Endeavor Hero Agency, Taro speaking" he heard the voice of a young woman.

"It's me, Endeavor," he said, annoyed that the obviously new addition to his staff hadn't realized the number calling was his own.

"Oh, boss! Eh, I mean, Endeavor-sama," she scrambled nervously.

"Calm down," he commanded. "Is Inari available?"

"I can put you through."

"No," he demanded at once. "Look on your computer to check if he's at his desk."

There was a short pause. "He's on the phone. Shall I put in a priority call, sir?"

"No, leave him. I need you to do some things for me, if he's unavailable." If Inari was on the phone it was probably to acquire information about Natsuo. "Track a mobile phone number for me."

"I can't …," she started, but then she caught herself. "Right away, sir." He heard the clicking of a keyboard. "The number?"

He read her his son's number. There was a short pause in which he paced the room impatiently.

"The phone is turned off," said the voice on the other end finally. "I can send you the last known location from … Saturday evening."

It had been shut off since Saturday? Or was at least not sending any traceable signals since then … That sounded bad.

"Send it to my email address." He hesitated. "And send Silent Tracker and her team to the location." Silent Tracker was a sidekick he had in his employ for tracking, forensics and crime scene investigation. "Tell her there might have been a kidnapping or an assault at the address on Saturday evening. She'll know what to do."

"Of course. Right away."

"No, before that. Call UA. Tell them …" he hesitated for a moment. "Tell them there is a family emergency for Shoto Todoroki. I'll get him as soon as I can."

"A family emergency?" the woman asked baffled. Then she drew her breath in sharply. "The number. It's a member of your family!"

"Don't tell anybody just yet."

"Yes, sir."

He ended the call there.

"His phone …," he looked up at Fuyumi who was sitting fearfully on the couch. "His phone has been shut off since Saturday. We have a last location, but … something must have happened." Fuyumi looked distraught.

"I'll go to the dorms and … then I have to get Shoto." He didn't really know what to do first. He couldn't do both, he realized. He couldn't tell his youngest son, console him, console Fuyumi whom he could clearly not just leave alone, and deal with his own fears while simultaneously investigating this case. He … was out of his depth.

He looked helplessly at his phone as it suddenly rang.

"Yeah? Inari-san?"

"Yes, it's me. Listen, I've called your son's university. They don't keep attendance. But I could get some of his professors on the phone, and two of them told me they've been missing Natsuo during lessons on Monday and Wednesday. Apparently, he is normally very reliable, so the fact that he wasn't there seemed odd to them."

"So, it is safe to assume he didn't go to any lessons for the entire week," Endeavor surmised.

"That's not all," said Inari. "I called both the management and the housekeeping of his dormitory and both haven't seen him for the entire week. That's not too uncommon though. They could give me the number of his next-door neighbor, however, a first year called Yahiko Souta, and he could tell me a little bit. Natsuo apparently came back to the dormitory late Friday evening. He was very angry and in a bad mood, loudly listening to music, so much so that his neighbor had to ask him to tone it down. By Saturday morning the situation had calmed down. They went to the park together to study, until Natsuo received a phone call. After that, his mood seemed to drop again, and after he got back home, he quickly packed to visit his girlfriend."

His girlfriend? That was the second time he had heard of her now.

"Do you have a name or address for this girlfriend?"

"Not really. His next-door neighbor only ever met her once. Lithe, brown hair, light skin tone and a tattoo of an animal on her upper arm. He couldn't specify which animal exactly though. A squirrel, maybe. First name, Haruka. She's a student at the university but originates from Yokohama."

Endeavor nodded in understanding to himself. "Send the information to my email. Have somebody try and find out more about Haruka and if you could get his phone records …?"

"Of course. And sir? I've been informed about your inquiry for this phone number. Should we inform the police?"

He hesitated. If Natsuo had visited this girlfriend in Yokohama, he would have to go to Tokyo Central Railway Station. The place his phone had last been located at was between his student dorms and the station. He might simply just be hiding out at his girlfriend's house. Calling in the police might be premature. Considering his position as Number One Hero, a supposed crime against his family would warrant the complete attention of the police force and would no doubt make headlines as soon as the information got out. Which never took long. He wanted both to avoid sending the police on a wild goose chase if it was nothing, and also keep information from leaking too soon, therefore hindering his own investigation.

"Is Silent Tracker already on the way?"

"She just left the house."

"Wait for her input. If he concludes we have a crime on our hands, inform the police."

"Roger that."

He ended that call. Fuyumi was in the kitchen calling this other friend she knew. For a minute or so, Enji just waited for her to come back with new information.

"Nothing," she said as she came back. She seemed destroyed over that simple word. He felt similarly.

"What's his name?"

"Yamato Yamashiro."

"Did he say anything at all? Could he say something about this girlfriend?"

Fuyumi shook her head helplessly. "Yamato moved out of the student dorms three months ago. Since then, Natsuo and he met about once every other week to go bowling or play soccer. Apparently Natsuo called him Saturday and told him he couldn't meet on Sunday, because he was visiting a friend."

"A friend?" he repeated. "Not his girlfriend?"

Fuyumi started for a moment, then she shook his head. "He said 'friend'. Maybe he misspoke? I don't know." Her eyes flipped to her phone as if contemplating trying to call the boy again, to ask if she had misheard anything or if there had been a mistake. This wouldn't do. She needed to pull herself together. He knew it was difficult, but necessary, if they wanted to find Natsuo.

"It's okay," reassured Enji, resting a hand on her shoulder. "A friend. This could be important. Did he say which friend?"

"No, just that it would be a friend."

"What then?"

"Nothing," she shrugged helplessly. "There was nothing … no-nothing else." She was crying he realized, so he suddenly found himself extinguishing the flames on his costume and hugging her tightly to his chest.

"Shh…" hushed Endeavor. "It'll be okay. We'll find out what happened. We already know a lot more. Shh…" He wiped away some of her tears spilling over. He had to leave and get to the dorm, to talk to the people there himself. Or he had to get Shoto. But he couldn't … couldn't leave like this.

She hiccupped. "Some-something must have happened."

"We'll find out." He held her a bit tighter. "Shh…"

When her tears finally seemed to recede a bit, he let her go. "Okay … You're okay, now."

"I'm not okay!" She hissed at him, suddenly angry. "This all wouldn't have happened, if- …" She cut herself short, snapping her jaw shut and looking suddenly guilty.

"You think this is because of me," realized Endeavor. Maybe she was right. Maybe it was because of him. Whatever had happened had happened only a day after he and Natsuo had finally talked – even if that talk only consisted of Natsuo screaming at him. Could this really be a coincidence? Maybe his anger or confusion had put him into a position where he was vulnerable to an attack. Or maybe this was a calculated attack by villains to get at him? It was possible, maybe even likely. It was too much of a coincidence to have nothing to do with him.

"No …" mumbled Fuyumi quietly but not really convincingly. "This for once is not your fault."

Endeavor nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but thankful for the sentiment nonetheless. "Did this Yamato say anything about the girlfriend?" He brought he conversation back to the topic at hand.

"He never met her," explained Fuyumi. "But Natsuo talked about her, sometimes. Apparently, this relationship only started about a month ago and they weren't certain if it was something serious for the longest time, so they didn't make it public. They met at university, but their first dates were far and few in between. He was head over heels for her, though. Her name is Haruka, she's from Yokohama and she still lives there with her parents during vacations."

He suddenly started. "During vacation?" he repeated.

"Yes, she's a student here, remember?" Fuyumi affirmed with furrowed eyebrows.

How stupid was he? He had assumed what that next-door neighbor had said had been true and he had visited his girlfriend. He had packed – so he had planned to be gone for several days. So of course, Endeavor had assumed he'd visit his girlfriend in Yokohama, where she came from. But she had lessons just as he did, so that made no sense. She wouldn't be at Yokohama now. There wouldn't be any reason for Natsuo to miss his lessons while visiting his girlfriend, because outside of holidays she was in Tokyo to study just like he was. So, had Natsuo not gone to his girlfriend after all, but maybe this other friend, the one he had mentioned to Yamato?

This all didn't add up.

"I have to …" he was interrupted by his phone, yet again.

"Todoroki." He took the call with a bit of an aggressive tone, before he could catch himself. His bad mood wasn't the fault of whoever was calling.

"This is Shouta Aizawa," came a lazy voice from the other side. "I was informed there was a family emergency for Shoto?"

"Yes, can I come and get him?"

"I don't know, what is going on?"

"I would like to explain that to him myself."

"Of course, of course. I'm asking for his sake. Shoto is panicking a bit. I normally don't see him like that, but well … normally we don't get calls from the Endeavor Hero Agency saying that there is a family emergency."

Enji started, then he understood. "He thinks I was injured in battle?"

"More like he thinks you were assassinated in your office. There was no battle broadcasted today that involved you."

Enji gritted his teeth. Of course, that conclusion made sense. Especially since it had been his agency that had called, not he himself or Fuyumi or any actual family member. "No, it's not me … I'm fine." It should have rather been him, he thought quietly. If anything had happened to Natsuo... he couldn't bear to lose another son.

"I hear that. Todoroki, you know we're on your side." He didn't really know Aizawa, so no, he didn't know that. But he assumed that heroes all stood on the same side, one way or the other. "On Shoto's side at least, you have to believe that much," relented Eraserhead. "If you don't want to tell, it's fine. But if there's something we-…"

There seemed to be a commotion on the other side of the line, then suddenly he heard a different voice. "Todoroki?"

He grunted in recognition, as he heard scrawny All Might's voice.

"Thank god, you're okay. What is going on?" God, that man had the tendency to get himself involved in pretty much everything, huh? And it was hard to deny him any information. Even more so … Enji was thoroughly out of his depth, he knew that. He couldn't be both investigating and be there for his children. He – as much as he hated to admit it – needed help. And if UA was willing to help, they certainly brought a few skills to the table, skills he could definitely use. Eraserhead was one of the heroes most well-versed with the workings of underground criminal organizations. And All Might certainly had contacts enough to be helpful.

"I'd rather not talk over the phone. Can you …?" He hesitated.

"What is it?" asked All Might encouragingly, as if he knew Endeavor had trouble asking for help.

"Could you bring Shoto home? I don't … I can't leave now, and I'd rather talk in private."

"Of course, Todoroki."

He ended the call then.

"All Might is going to bring Shoto," he informed Fuyumi.

"What then?" she asked, and he didn't know what to say. "What are we going to do then?" She asked again, when she didn't receive an answer.

"Wait," he said quietly, utterly disappointed with that course of action as well. But he couldn't really leave now that Shoto was being brought back home. He couldn't just leave Fuyumi either. He couldn't just go off and investigate. He realized he was a distressed family member here, just like any distressed family member he ever had to deal with during one of his cases. He couldn't … lead this investigation. All he could do was be there for his other two children. And wait for Silent Tracker to give him new information, then inform the police …

They waited, and because Fuyumi was pale and out of it, he went into the kitchen to make something to eat for the both of them.

They were quietly slurping noodles when the door slid open and Shoto came storming in with All Might following at a slower pace behind him.

"What is going on?" Shoto asked as he burst through the door into the sitting room. His eyes roamed over Enji and Fuyumi, then around the room. "Where's Natsuo?" he immediately asked. He knew this was a family matter. Fuyumi and Enji were both here, and Rei was secure in her hospital ward. That only left Natsuo. Enji almost winced at the question.

He put a hand on Fuyumi's thigh as she made to answer. This was his story to tell, he knew. He should tell Shoto.

"We don't know," said Enji quietly, standing up from his sitting position and walking over to his son. "We can't find him. He hasn't contacted any of us for a week and while we originally thought he just needed his time, he didn't even make his weekly call to his mother yesterday. He hasn't been to his lessons and all of the friends we asked said they saw him last on Saturday evening. That is also the time we have for the last traceable signal from his smartphone." He spoke calmly, rationally, saying everything they knew at once.

Shoto stared at him. Then, after what seemed like a small eternity: "Natsuo is missing?" His voice was small and confused. "He's been missing since Saturday, and none of us noticed?" He sounded both angry and defeated.

Endeavor rested a comforting hand on Shoto's shoulder, careful not to go too far, to assume too much of a personal relationship, but Shoto didn't shy away from the touch, so he gripped his shoulder a bit harder.

"We'll find him," he promised. "We …" but he knew not to make these sorts of promises, and he still made them anyway. "Everything will be fine." And it would be! He was the top hero … shouldn't he be powerful enough to keep his own son safe? Why else did he have that power?

"We'll help you, wherever we can," he heard All Might say from the door, but he only threw the man a quick glance, focusing entirely on his distraught son.

* * *

So, what do you think, happened to Natsuo?

Is the pace of the story fine? I always fear I start too boring.


	4. The Investigation

Hey,

thanks so much for the great response to last chapter. I hope you'll like this one just as much and it's still not getting boring.

* * *

 **The Investigation**

Three hours later it was dark outside and they had a bit more information. Silent Tracker had called. She had thoroughly searched the last known location of Natsuo's phone and had come up with precious little. There hadn't been a violent assault recently, of that she had been sure. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Camera footage from different shops close by showed Natsuo with a rucksack strolling through the street texting on his phone. He was alone and nothing unusual had happened on any of the tapes. They had even found more footage from the time after his phone had been shut off, showing him going further along his path, hands in his pockets all the way to the station, wherein his trail was lost.

Natsuo was clearly going to the station of his own free will, and he might have just turned off the phone himself or run out of battery.

That was everything Silent Tracker could tell them. At the station, Natsuo's further steps were lost in the massive crowd of people traveling to and from Tokyo on a late Saturday evening. At least now he knew Natsuo hadn't been taken. Why hadn't he turned on his phone again, though?

Why had he turned it off in the first place?

From this information, though, they didn't know if it was opportune to inform the police just yet.

He didn't go to the dormitory himself in the end. One of his colleagues went there instead in civil clothes to prevent the undue attention that would inevitably come with heroes marching into a student dormitory. But that particular trail didn't offer much new information. Nobody knew more than they already did and even searching his room only yielded the information that he must have packed for about two days leave.

"So he probably planned to leave for the weekend, but expected to be back on Monday," concluded Silent Tracker from the information. They all sat in the Todoroki's living area around a table now littered with paper with pieces and scraps of information written on them.

"And we don't know why he didn't come back then. But we know he left of his own free will." That was All Might, looking at the pictures from the camera footage of the street where his phone had last been located.

Endeavor grunted in affirmation. "Something must have happened on Sunday or Monday morning." He glanced over the arrival and departure schedule from the station. "If we assume he went to Yokohama, which is still our best guess, he probably took the train at 21:43 or at 21:59. He would have arrived somewhere between 22:10 and 22:37."

His phone rang again. "Anything new, Inari?"

"Not for now. We requested the phone records, but we won't have them before tomorrow. The same is probably true for the information on this Haruka-girl."

"Is the university squeamish about handing out information?" He knew that might be an obstacle. Without the police, they couldn't demand information be given to them. Most institutions were still very forthcoming, but apparently this university was not one to hand out information on their students without a warrant.

"I fear so. Office hours are over by now. We'll have to wait for tomorrow one way or the other. That aside, we were able to find a few more people who know Natsuo and get a better description on this Haruka-girl. Twenty to twenty-two years old, a bio-major. She doesn't live on campus."

"Where does she live?"

"We don't know yet, but in so far everybody seems to agree on one thing; apparently, she is not very dedicated to her studies. We spoke to another bio-major who was surprised when he found out they had essentially the same schedule, because he claims he never saw her in his lessons."

"So …" He didn't know what to make of this information, yet. "Thanks. Call, if you dig up something else."

"There's also the other matter … you had me look into."

Endeavor hesitated. "Not now. I can't deal with that now. Can you compile a list for me with everything you found?"

"Of course, … but, you should probably give it a quick glance."

Enji looked at the people around him looking at him expectantly. "I … will look over it as soon as I can."

He relayed the new information on Natsuo to the people around him but left out anything on the other matter.

"That … doesn't fit to him, at all," commented Fuyumi. "He has always been dedicated to his studies. Most of his friends are from his classes or the dormitory. How would he even meet that girl, if she doesn't live on campus, doesn't have his same subjects and doesn't even attend her own classes?"

Shoto nodded and Enji had to agree, even if he didn't know the boy quite as well as the other two. "They don't seem to have anything in common, none of his friends know any details and he hasn't even given you any information about her," summarized Endeavor. "We need to find out who she is. But for now …" He glanced at the clock, it was already past midnight. "We should probably call it a day."

"What?" gaped Shoto. "You can't mean it! We still don't know anything! We can't just stop looking."

"You need to rest," said Endeavor calmly.

"If you want to rest, go ahead. I won't just leave it at that!" Shoto balled his fists in helpless anger. "How can you just …"

"Shoto!" Endeavor cut him off. "We all need to sleep. We won't be able to find out anything new for now." He gritted his teeth in anger at the suggestion that he wasn't doing everything he possibly could. "Tomorrow morning, we'll have more information and we need to have our wits together then."

"But …!"

"Your father is right, young Todoroki," said All Might reassuringly. "We'll meet back here tomorrow."

However much he needed his rest, sleep proved elusive, and he assumed he wasn't the only one in the family who couldn't relax. Tomorrow started early, and he made his way to the kitchen to already find his children at the breakfast table eating quietly.

"Anything new?" asked Shoto instead of greeting.

"Not, yet."

Shoto looked at him utterly lost. "What if …?"

"Everything will be fine," interrupted Enji.

"You can't know that!" hissed Shoto angrily.

"No," relented Enji. "But …" He would make sure. Whatever was happening here, he would solve this. He would find Natsuo and bring him back, no matter what!

They didn't talk much after that, until the bell rang and All Might came in. He had Tsukauchi with him, which irritated Endeavor.

"I brought my friend Tsukauchi," declared All Might, "He's a detective at the-"

"We've met," interrupted Enji, shaking hands with the man. "We worked together in Kamino, did you forget?"

"Oh, of course." All Might rubbed his head, a bit embarrassed. "Right. I thought I should bring him along, to look over what we know so far."

Enji thought about throwing both of them out again. He hadn't wanted the police involved quite yet. Maybe it was because he didn't want them to take over the reins of this investigation, pushing him into the position of 'worried family member'. As soon as the police took over the case, he felt like he had to step out of the way and let them take over. Professionally, he knew he probably should do that anyway … but he couldn't just sit around, to wait and trust other people with finding his son.

"Come in," he uttered angrily, holding the door for the two men.

"Toshinori already informed me of the rough details," said Tsukauchi as they moved towards the living area where the evidence so far was assembled. "I would like to take the case," admitted the detective. "I know we have no evidence of a crime yet, but with your position, I think we should take this seriously."

Enji gritted his teeth. "Of course," muttered he. "I'm aware of the implications."

"If this is an attack against you rather than your son or just a misunderstanding, then this might be an attack against your position rather than your person." All Might explained what Endeavor had already understood.

"Or against both you personally and the position. I'm certain you probably have a few enemies?"

"Some," he confirmed. Countless really. He was not a man easily loved. Even his own family at some point might have counted as an enemy.

"But before that … Is there a reason why Natsuo would leave on his own accord?"

They sat down on the couch. Fuyumi brought tea, and Shoto and Enji sat opposite the newcomers. Enji looked a bit unhappy with the question. When he didn't answer immediately, Shoto did instead.

"Don't tell me you want to keep it secret, even now, Dad? I had thought …" he seemed somewhere between disappointed and angry.

"Yes," Enji admitted. "He certainly had reasons. Our family … has had a few issues in the past years." He looked at Shoto shortly, who glowered at him, but didn't offer more information for the newcomers. "We didn't have a good relationship for years. Recently, I tried reconnecting with Natsuo, but he said he needed some time alone. It was the reason we didn't suspect anything when we didn't hear from him for a few days." He frowned. "But he lives alone. So there would be no reason for him to run away like this. Shut down his phone, maybe, but not to leave the dormitory and ditch his studies." Shoto too nodded at that.

"He wouldn't do that," confirmed Fuyumi as she came back with the tea, sitting down with them.

"And you only realized something was off when he didn't call his mother?" asked Tsukauchi. "Could I talk to your wife?"

"Rei is …" he hesitated, "in the hospital. I would rather not worry her."

"Father," said Fuyumi disapprovingly.

"You want to tell her that her son is missing?" asked Enji honestly. Because he himself didn't know what the best decision was here. He hadn't seen her in forever, but the doctors kept him updated on her mental state. According to her healers, her mental state had vastly improved, but was still fragile. They feared even seeing him could set her off on a downward spiral again. Finding out her son was missing, especially when she couldn't offer any information and they couldn't give her any assurances as to his safety, would surely affect her. "Maybe Fuyumi can talk to her again. But I'd rather not have her talk to the police like this. I can't imagine she would take it well."

Fuyumi seemed to concede to that.

"Okay," nodded Tsukauchi. Before he could ask anything else, Enji's phone pinged. He had an email.

"Wait a minute," he asked, opening the attached file. It contained his son's phone records. "We have …" He sent the file to his printer. "We have his phone records."

Shoto immediately dashed for the printer, coming back with a stack of papers and laying them out on the table.

* * *

So now the Police is involved!

Honestly I always feel a bit insecure writing Shoto and All Might because they are important main characters and I always fear I'll write them out of chracter.

Also dropping Rei's name here with All Might and Tsukauchi. Because of her situation she'll likely only appear very late in the story and not take up as much of a role as I might have hoped.

Considering her though, I'm curious, because I struggle with what my endgoal will be with this marriagen. What do you think? Can it be salvaged?

So, I hope the investigation is still interesting even if it takes babysteps :D

Until next week (presumably)

Ceies


	5. Missing Person

Hey,

first and foremost thanks so much for all the feedback. Also thanks to the two guests who reviewed. I try answering to every review, since I can't thank them any other way, I just do it here ^^

I hope you like the next chapter.

* * *

 **Missing Person**

The phone records gave Enji and the others a detailed picture of what Natsuo had been doing Friday and Saturday.

On Friday afternoon he had called a number none of them knew when he'd still been in the Todoroki household. He'd left the house an hour later to go back home to his dormitory, where he angrily listened to music until his neighbor asked him to tone it down, exchanging several text messages with that same number during that time.

Saturday, he had seemingly calmed down, messaged his siblings and visited the park with that same neighbor and two other friends. At around 2 pm he received a phone call from Enji and let it go straight to voicemail. He deleted that message without listening to it and called the same number he had been texting with before.

After that call, he left his friends to pack his things for a 'weekend at a friend's or his girlfriend's house'. He called a different number then, Yamato, to tell him he couldn't meet him on Sunday. At around eight in the evening he left his dorm, walking to the station, texting two different people while on the way, before being called by the second number.

Shortly before arriving at the station, Enji called again. Apparently, it was then that Natsuo decided to turn his phone off. A few minutes later, he arrived at the station and disappeared without a trace. On Monday he didn't come back for his lessons.

Enji stared at his own number in the phone records. His son had turned his phone off because of his call. Had he not called … maybe he would have left the phone on and at least Fuyumi and Shoto might know where he was.

There were two numbers on these records they couldn't identify. Whoever these people were, Endeavor gathered, they would know where his son was.

Endeavor's work phone rang again while they were still putting together the events.

"Yes?"

"This is Tora, from …"

"Yes," he interrupted quickly. He remembered his young employee that had been so nervous yesterday. "What is it?"

"We … Inari had me check the two unknown numbers on your son's phone records, sir."

"And?" He asked a bit impatiently.

"The second number is a prepaid phone. We can't say anything about it. But the first …"

"What is it?"

"There is no official registration under a name with the provider, but we found out … the number is registered at two different places." She hesitated, and he was about to ask, when she answered. "First the number is documented as the contact number of the student Haruka Michiro with the administration office of the Tokyo University." Haruka Michiro … The girlfriend. But there was apparently more.

"What else is there?"

"The number was also used as a contact number with our agency."

He started, confused. "The agency?" he repeated. "Who registered the number?"

"The number was noted down in the application forms for an internship. The applicant was a Shiketsu second year. Camie Utsushimi." The name rang a bell with him, but he couldn't place it.

"She was rejected?"

"After the recent incidents at UA both schools decided to only allow internships with agencies closely connected to the schools. As you may remember, it was a difficult time for our agency after All Might's retirement. We didn't have the time for a new intern and the teaching body of Shiketsu decided that our agency was too far away from the school to begin with. Camie retracted her application a short time later."

"Thanks for the information."

"There's something else. When I mentioned this to Inari, he told me to tell you to … read an email he sent you? Something like that, sir."

Endeavor stared at the phone for a moment, then he nodded to himself. "Thank you. Call if there's something new." He ended the call.

"What is it?" asked Shoto as Endeavor only stared at the people present in the room.

"We couldn't find a name for the second number, but this number …" He pointed to the number Natsuo had the most contact with, "it's registered with the Tokyo University for the student Haruka Michiro."

"Haruka?" asked Fuyumi smiling. "Then that must be Natsuo's girlfriend? That's a good thing, right?"

Endeavor nodded to the first question but shook his head to the second. "I don't know for sure. The same number was also used for an intern application at my agency a few months back. While talking he scrolled through his emails until he found the one from Inari. "A Shiketsu …

It was just a short text, with a rather big file attached. His voice trailed off as he read the text Inari had written.

"Attached are all potentially relevant information about our current staff. Before you dive into the document, there is one specific thing you should read first. There has been an intern application by one Camie Utsushimi from Shiketsu. She retracted her application only a few days later, so she landed with all the other rejects, without her application even making it to the first stage of admission. She had a provisional license from the recent exam, but that hero ID is invalid now."

Endeavor stopped reading at this point. Camie Utsushimi … of course. She was the girl whose identity had been taken over by the League of Villains' Himiko Toga.

"Camie Utsushimi," Enji said after a moment, staring at All Might.

The former Number One just blinked back at him.

"What's with her?" asked Shoto.

"You know her?"

"Of course, you met her, too. At the training for the provisional license? She's the girl from Shiketsu with this weird manner of speech. What's with her?"

"So, it was her?" he asked All Might to make sure. "The girl who had been used to-"

"Oh, yes!" All Might interrupted him with a panicked glance at Shoto and Fuyumi. The information was kept secret from those two, he remembered.

"Right," Endeavor said. "This number. It belongs to Haruka, Natsuo's girlfriend, but the number was also used by this Camie-girl to apply at my agency."

While Fuyumi didn't seem to understand what was going on – after all she didn't know Camie at all – and while Shoto looked utterly confused – "What do you mean? What does this have to do with anything?" – All Might suddenly blanched.

"So, the League of Villains is involved?" he hissed.

"What!?" Shoto growled. "Camie is with the League? She … she can't be!"

"No, Shoto," answered Enji, not caring for the warning glares both Tsukauchi and All Might gave him. "What? My son is in the hands of the League of Villains and you don't want me to tell them?" Enji hissed at the two, but they only looked away guiltily. "Then you tell him, All Might!"

"Young Camie is not part of the League, of course," said All Might to Shoto, exchanging a glance with Tsukauchi.

"There are … implications, though we can't be certain, that Himiko Toga from the League invaded the license exam posing as Utsushimi-san."

"You mean …" Shoto's voice seemed to die out. Fuyumi laid an arm around his shoulders almost on instinct.

"Toga's quirk allows her to take on the appearance of other people," explained Enji.

"And … that number, Natsuo's girlfriend … She's … It's Toga?!"

Enji shrugged helplessly.

"Dad?" But Enji didn't want to say it. "SAY IT, DAD! The League of Villains took Natsu and you're just sitting here!"

"Shoto!" hissed Fuyumi.

"NO! I mean, we all are thinking it, right!? It's because of him! Because he's number one, that's why they are targeting him. Nastu is just their tool to get to him!" He had angry and helpless tears in his eyes. "They wanted to infiltrate the agency first, and then they tried to kill him, so that pretty much proves it. It's all because of-!"

"SHOTO!" Fuyumi bellowed. "Stop it!"

"But …" Shoto looked at her helplessly.

"We know," mumbled Fuyumi. "We all know."

Endeavor looked down at the ground for a few seconds. Oh, he knew. Had feared it for a while now. They had gone after his son after they had failed to get at him directly. He balled his fists and turned back to the information on the table, reading it all over again, as if he had missed something.

"But this time, it's not his fault," whispered Fuyumi at Shoto. "You know it's not." Shoto didn't answer, but he didn't seem to agree entirely. Instead, he just shrugged once more, sadly.

"If the League is involved, we can finally treat this as a crime," informed Tsukauchi. "On top of that, since the attack is against Endeavor, not the boy specifically, we can almost be sure that they will show themselves sooner or later."

He was right, Enji knew. He only feared the information the League would give him then. Would they try and play with him, demand a ransom or just kill the boy? "We can't just wait until they show themselves," hissed Enji. "As far as we know they've had him since Saturday. Almost an entire week. As far as we know, they could have al-"

"STOP!" screamed Fuyumi. "Don't say it. You were the one who promised us everything would be alright, weren't you?" Enji looked at her a bit surprised. Right … he had promised. Maybe he shouldn't have. But he had meant it. Still did … "Then don't take it back now!"

He stared at his two children standing arm in arm. "Right …," muttered Endeavor. "Why haven't they made contact yet?" He wondered out loud.

"Maybe they are waiting for us to make the first move?" All Might suggested.

"Which move, though?" asked Endeavor.

There was a small pause while the former and current number one, as well as Tsukauchi, Shoto and Fuyumi thought over everything they knew.

"We … We don't know where they are hiding, right?" asked Shoto. Tsukauchi shook his head.

"We could go to Yokohama, try finding Haruka's address there," suggested Endeavor. "The chance that they are there or that the address is even real in the first place is unlikely, but … It's as good a place as any to start."

"We will definitely investigate the girl, whatever we know. But if it is Himiko Toga, it seems likely all we will find in Yokohama is the real Haruka Michiro."

All Might nodded, then he suggested something else. "We could make the search public."

"Public?" asked Endeavor. He furrowed his brow. "Wouldn't that … What would the people think, if they knew I couldn't even protect my own son?"

"Is that really what you are worrying about now?" asked Fuyumi in shock.

"It's not what you think," defended Enji. "If it were just me, I would …"

"Would what? He's your son! Don't tell me your number one title is more important!" exclaimed Shoto.

"Young Todoroki," All Might spoke up. "Your father is right. He is not just a number one hero, after his battle with the Nomu, he is THE Number One Hero. The new Number One." Shoto and Fuyumi both looked at him questioningly. "The People have finally started trusting him." All Might raised a hand to stop them from interrupting as they were clearly about to do. "Trust me, when I tell you, being the Number One is more than just a title. Endeavor, reinforcing the trust in himself as the top hero also reinforced the trust in hero society as a whole. His son's kidnapping making the news would discredit not just your father, but the entire hero society, and strengthen every villain out there."

Shoto didn't talk back anymore, but Fuyumi seemed about to, before Tsukauchi spoke up again.

"It's probably exactly what they are after. Should they topple you, I don't know how the Japanese hero society would ever get over a second heavy loss in such a short time. The country is still reeling from All Might's retirement."

"I refuse to do what they want," hissed Endeavor. "They can't play me like that!" The very idea made him angry. It wasn't just that he didn't want to-he simply couldn't. The top hero following the whims and wishes of villains? That would bring the hero society to its knees.

"Then what?" asked Fuyumi quietly.

"We go to Yokohama," declared Endeavor, then he looked down at the phone records. "In the meantime, we should try and get a location on these numbers."

* * *

We have a breakthrough in the case!

Also, congratulation to patrickthenobleman. This wasn't really a contest or anything, I know, but your instincts were correct. It is Toga.

What would your next step be if you were in Endeavor's situation? And how do you think Natsuo is doing?


	6. A Phone Call

Why does nobody tell me that I forgot to update yesterday?

So, this is a bit late. And there's another bad news. There probably won't be an update next week. I have to do stuff for RL and don't know if I come around to posting in April at all. I try not to leave you hanging for too long, but the weekly updates will probably not happen for the next few weeks.

* * *

 **A Phone Call**

Tsukauchi had left, taking the phone records with him to do some more investigating and to open an official case file with the name 'Natsuo Todoroki'. All Might left shortly after for UA to inform his colleagues of the new revelations and get a bit more input. That only left the Todoroki family alone with their fears.

Endeavor busied himself with preparing for a trip to Yokohama. He made some more phone calls with Inari, informing him that he would likely take the whole next week off, rearranging his sidekicks' work schedules. There was a moment when Shoto ran past his home office glaring at him disapprovingly, no doubt incensed that he could still waste time with his mundane everyday hero work, but Enji didn't care for once. Even such mundane schedule work was better than doing nothing, and no matter what Shoto or Enji both thought was more important, he was still the number one hero and he couldn't just take off work for several days without prior preparation, or else his area and – if the information got out – the whole of japan would drown in a new surge of villain activity the way it had right after All Might's retirement. Whatever personal matters Endeavor had to deal with, he also had his responsibilities to the rest of Japan.

It was only an hour after All Might had left that Todoroki realized it had gotten awfully quiet in the house. Until now, Fuyumi and Shoto had paced or argued or discussed the case and hadn't been able to calm down, remain still or even rest. Now he looked up from his papers, his phone on speakers as he went through his sidekicks' schedules for the week with Inari to hear … nothing. It had gotten really quiet all of a sudden.

"Wait a second," he cut Inari off. His secretary quieted at once. Enji tried to listen to his surroundings, but he struggled to hear anything. "Can I call you back?" He had a bad feeling. Like his instincts screaming at him that something wasn't right, that his children were doing something and likely doing something stupid.

He went to Shoto's room first and found it empty. Then he heard whispered voices from the living room.

"It's a bad idea, Shoto. We should wait for the police to …"

"To what, Fuyumi? I can't just sit and … shh!"

There was a silent pause while Enji hurried to the living room. Then suddenly Shoto spoke again.

"This is Shoto Todoroki. Is this Haruka? Or Himiko Toga, whoever you are?" He sounded passively aggressive but oddly subdued. "Yes. Where is …?"

He had called the number, Endeavor realized suddenly. Of course he had. Endeavor should have realized he'd do that. He had been about to act himself and just call the number from the phone records. But what would he achieve with that? Let the League know they were on their tails? No, calling was premature, since they still didn't know anything. He had known that. It was too early to contact the villains, especially since from what they knew of the League they would probably not shy away from hurting Natsuo or even killing him. But of course, Shoto didn't know that. His kids were intelligent, but inexperienced. They had probably just glanced at the phone number and immediately committed it to memory.

"What are you doing?" he hissed angrily as he came into the room. What were they thinking? He wasn't really angry, but … this could go so wrong. He didn't want his children to call the League of Villains.

The two stared at him in shock, then Shoto got distracted by something said on the other end of the line. He glanced at his father listening intently. "Yes, he is here." He listened again. "Why?" Shoto seemed irritated, ignoring both Fuyumi's and Enji's questioning glances. "No, I want to speak to Natsuo! Let me talk to …" He was apparently cut off. "Fine. But if you've hurt him … If you've hurt my brother, I'll hunt you down myself!" Shoto was obviously angry as he jerked the phone away from his ear, stood up and shoved it against Enji's chest. "They want to talk to you."

Of course, they did … Enji wasn't surprised by that information. He nodded and took the phone. "Yes?" He didn't even try to sound civil with his son's kidnappers.

"'ello, 'ello," it wasn't a woman's voice on the other end. He threw Shoto a confused glance. By Shoto's earlier question if he were talking to Haruka or Himiko, Enji was sure he had at least talked to a woman. This was clearly a male though.

"Who are you?" Enji asked immediately.

"Oh, take a guess, Enji Todoroki."

He knew that voice, he suddenly realized. "Dabi," he said, not a question but a statement.

"Bingo," there was a sound as if the other man was clapping his hands on his end. "Now, your children have taken it upon themselves to call us. I bet because you couldn't be bothered, could you?"

"What are you talking about?" Enji asked frowning. What a weird thing to ask him. What did this Dabi-character think he knew?

"Ah, come now. We both know you don't exactly have much love for your children now, do you?" Enji stared angrily ahead. If Dabi had been in front of him, he'd burned those words right out of him. How dare he?

"How dare you!" He hissed furiously.

"What? How dare me?" There was cackling from the other end that didn't belong to Dabi. Enji must be on speakers he realized. The entire League was listening in. "Don't think I don't know who you truly are, Enji Todoroki." There was a chill down Enji's spine. What did Dabi know and how? "The world might finally see you as the greatest hero you always wanted to be, but I know what you truly are, Todoroki. A vile villainous and cruel creature. Whatever the world might see you as, I know better." There was that cackling again. A woman's voice. Himiko Toga maybe. "Your son knows too."

"What have you done to him?" Enji asked angrily now that the other man had finally mentioned his son.

"Done to him? Oh, nothing. He came of his own free will. What did you think? That we needed to force him to join us?"

To say those words didn't hit him where it hurt would be a lie. But he tried to focus on the positive. "So, my son is fine?" he asked intently. "You haven't hurt him?"

"No, there was no need to. Your son is healthy and dare I say happy?"

Enji looked relieved and when Fuyumi and Shoto saw his relaxed mimicry they threw each other relieved glances.

"What is it?" mouthed Fuyumi. "Is he unhurt? He's fine, right?"

Enji nodded quietly.

"Can you put on speakers?"

Enji did as asked and put the phone down on the table. "Can you let me talk to him?" Enji asked.

"He doesn't want to talk to you, of all people," Dabi answered with a bit of glee in his voice.

Shoto frowned. "Can I talk to him?" He asked loud enough for Dabi to hear. "This is Shoto, again."

"Oh, you put me on speakers," Dabi realized. "I fear I can't let you talk to him, either. Where would be the fun in that?" Shoto looked angry.

"What do you mean? What 'fun'?" asked Fuyumi furiously. "Give us back our brother."

"Fuyumi? Is that you?" Enji and Fuyumi exchanged confused glances. The league had clearly done its research on the Todoroki family. "I'm sorry if our actions worried you. But rest assured, your brother is fine and unhurt. And if your father does as we demand, he will stay so."

Oh, so now they came to the crux of the story. After all, as much as Dabi wanted to emphasize that Natsuo had apparently come of his own free will, he was still very much a hostage. And they had demands for Enji specifically.

"What do you want me to do?" asked Enji at once while his two children only frowned.

"Ah, have a bit of patience, number one hero. I'm talking to your daughter. Fuyumi?" Dabi paused for Fuyumi to answer.

"Yes? I'm still here."

"Rest assured, I don't want to hurt your brother, if I don't have to. It will all depend on the greatest hero, now. But if everything works as planned, I'll free you of your suffering and worry by tomorrow."

"My suffering?" Fuyumi squeaked in surprise. Shoto and Enji also looked confused. "What do you mean? You'll let Natsuo go?"

"I will." For a moment it sounded as if there was something else he wanted to say. But then he only sighed. "Now, I need you and Shoto to stay in the house for the rest of the day. Enji Todoroki, take the phone and put it on silent again."

Enji hesitated. Shoto shook his head. He obviously wanted to hear what was going on. So instead of putting the phone on silent, Enji just took the phone and held it to his mouth.

"What now?"

"Ah ah ah," sang Dabi, annoyed."Are you already ignoring my commands. Is the life of your son worth so little?" Enji glanced around in alarm. "Put me on silent."

Enji didn't hesitate again. "I thought you didn't want to hurt Natsuo. But it doesn't take you much to threaten his life." He breathed in to calm his anger. "The phone is on silent now."

"Yes, I see," so they had eyes or ears on them. Maybe somebody watching them. Or even a bug in the house. If Natsuo had changed sides he might even have put it there himself. They could have a quirk suited for spying, though. Whatever it was, it was apparent he was being watched. "Well, you'll agree we'll have to put some pressure on you. We are the League of Villains, after all. While I personally would not enjoy hurting your son, I have colleagues who would, don't doubt it."

Enji didn't doubt it. He didn't even know why Dabi himself would want to spare Natsuo if given the choice.

"Now, make sure your children know not to leave the room or call any backup for the rest of the day." Enji relayed the message. Shoto looked simultaneously furious and afraid, Fuyumi seemed mostly subdued.

"Well done." Enji scowled at the unnecessary praise. "Now, step out of the room." He did as was demanded. As angry as he was, there wasn't much of a choice if they threatened his son. "Go to your son's room. Natsuo's room." Enji did. "You'll find his diary on the upper shelf of his wardrobe." He found it, exactly were Dabi said it would be. "Now take it with you, when you leave the house. I want you to take public transport to Tatooin Station and make sure you aren't recognized. Oh … and feel free to read what your son wrote in his diary. But leave your son's phone on. Your own phones you can leave at home. I don't want you to be traced through them."

Enji picked a long coat and a scarf to hide half his face on the bus before he left the house. He left his business and private phone in his office. Of course, as a hero he had high-tech tracking devices in them, just in case. But did Dabi really think he hadn't also equipped his children's phones with state-of-the-art tracking devices? Especially if they were keeping this call going, he'd be easily traced. He wouldn't be that naïve, right?

On the bus, Enji only opened the diary once to realize it was not a current diary, but one Natsuo must have written as a child. The dates on the first pages put it only shortly after his eldest son's suicide. Enji remembered that a psychologist had asked Natsuo to start writing in a diary to deal with the traumatic event. Back then Enji hadn't really cared for his son's suffering or his other children's issues. He had put all his time and energy into work and training Shoto. In hindsight, it was probably one of the worst times for him to behave as he did towards his children, what with Rei already in hospital and unable to protect them from him. Enji didn't even need to read a single word to know not only how Natsuo would have dealt with the untimely death of his brother, but also his abusive and negligent father. Why he was made to carry the book with him, he could only guess. But it didn't bode well. In any case, he didn't even think about actually reading it. It was his son's private diary; he didn't want to invade in this sphere. Also, if he were honest, he didn't really want to read it anyway.

He stepped out of the bus fifteen minutes later to take the metro. When he stepped out of the train onto the Tatooin metro station, Dabi finally spoke again. "Before you leave the station, I want you to buy a new phone and a new prepaid SIM card."

He did as he was asked. Then he was given a new number to call that he recognized as the other unknown number in Natsuo's phone records. Only then was he allowed to end the old call and throw Shoto's phone into the garbage. He gritted his teeth angrily while doing so. Shoto's phone had been traceable … This one … Well, should the investigators find out what phone he had bought, or what SIM card, then maybe. But it would probably take a while. They had everything ready to now force him to do whatever they pleased, threatening him with his son's well-being. There was little he could do other than follow and hope somebody would find a way to save Enji himself, and probably Natsuo too, if all this didn't lead to Natsuo's freedom.

At Tatooin Station he moved in a way that would hopefully be picked up by the security cameras. He was told to buy a ticket to Yokohama, which he did. Then as soon as he was in the train, he was told to take the next stop and buy another ticket. Again, he moved so that security cameras could pick him up, but he felt less and less hope that he could be tracked in time to prevent whatever the League had planned for him. They sent him on a wild goose chase. Only when he told Dabi that he was out of cash did they finally give him the final station, which was in a Musutafu suburb with high crime density but also a somewhat well-off business district. It was far enough away from his hero agency and home that it would take him two hours to get there on foot without cash. It was already the middle of the night when he arrived there.

Dabi navigated him around the district to a rundown flat. Before Enji entered though, he stopped suddenly.

"If you want me to enter, I need a guarantee that my son is fine, first." They had rejected any prior attempt to talk to his son. But now, he wouldn't sacrifice his freedom if he didn't know Natsuo was at least still alive.

"Of course," Dabi said nonchalantly. There was a short pause, then:

"Hallo?" Natsuo's voice. Enji breathed.

"Are you fine, Natsuo? Are you hurt?"

"What?" He seemed a bit confused. "Oh … eh, no. I'm fine. Just do as they say."

He sounded weird. As if he was truly in on this whole thing, but also as if this wasn't serious at all. Enji shook the feeling off. He had known Natsuo had likely not been an innocent victim in this whole situation.

"Alright. Don't worry, you'll be fine," he said, but then Dabi answered with his silent laughter and Enji wasn't sure if Natsuo had even heard the last part.

"How do I know you'll actually let Natsuo go, if I go inside?"

"You won't," Dabi chuckled. "What, do you think we're suicidal? The moment we let him go, even if you're already inside, you're just going to kill us all. I don't fancy fighting the strongest hero now."

"You coward."

"Ah ah ah. Now, you don't want to anger me."

Enji gritted his teeth.

"Now come inside."

He hesitated only for another few seconds before he tested the door. It was open. He stepped inside and found nobody there. It was a corridor, leading to a staircase. "The basement," commanded Dabi and Enji descended the stairs. He felt oddly calm.

At the end of the stairs there was another wooden door. An apartment in the basement, instead of dark cellars. He didn't even ask for instructions as he entered. Inside there was still nobody. But there was a table with a set of cuffs. He scowled. "You want me to cuff myself?" he asked angrily.

"You see, we discussed it and decided that none of us wanted to burn ourselves." Enji frowned, growing angrier as he picked up the cuffs to inspect them. They were steel and obviously made to suppress quirks. He didn't really fancy putting them on. As soon as he did, he'd be completely helpless.

"I won't do it, unless I know Natsuo will be safe," he grunted into the phone.

There was a longer pause. As if Dabi was genuinely surprised by the demand. "You want to …? Well fine. We'll bring him up to the other side of the house. Should you leave this room or move an inch, we'll kill him. Do you see the TV? Turn it on."

They must have been prepared for this demand, he realized as he put on the TV and saw a live feed of the street outside. It was dark but illuminated by street lights. A bus was just passing by. "We also have a live-feed of your room here with us. So, we'll know exactly what you do." Enji nodded in understanding. "The moment you see Natsuo on the street, I want you to put on one handcuff. We'll let him go, as soon as you do. Then you'll put on the other handcuff. If you don't, we'll catch him again and hurt him. As soon as he's far enough away to be out of the camera view, you will push the key through the crack of the door."

"What would prevent you from hunting after him as soon as I did so?" asked Enji gruffly.

"In five minutes, a bus will stop five hundred meters away from the house. If we were to catch him again, there would be many witnesses." Enji nodded in agreement. That seemed fair. At least they wouldn't be able to hold both he and Natsuo prisoner for long after that. Long enough to kill them … but maybe they really only were after Enji. He had to take that gamble, he assumed. There wasn't much else he could do. He didn't doubt the League when they threatened Natsuo. He'd spent enough time working against them to know they wouldn't shy away from such drastic means.

"Agreed," muttered Enji. Then he waited. Indeed, after a minute or two Natsuo's white hair appeared in the door. Next to him was a blond man that Endeavor recognized as Twice, out of his villain costume. They both looked up to the camera. Natsuo looked fine. He didn't even look afraid. Enji nodded, jaw clenched tight and put the first cuff on his left wrist.

There was a moment when nothing happened, then he saw a bus pass by, Twice nodded once and let Natsuo go. Enji watched as Natsuo hurried a few steps down the streets. Then he nodded again before Dabi on the phone could get impatient. He put the second cuff on. Automatically he could feel his strength get zapped from him. He was still physically strong but being without his flames left him feeling weak and helpless. Still he didn't turn away from the screen, as Natsuo hurriedly made his way across the street until he vanished outside the camera radius.

Enji Todoroki breathed in relief, as he took the key to his cuffs and pushed it through the crack under the door. Not the door he'd come through, but one leading deeper into the apartment.

"Nicely done," Dabi commented and ended the call. He heard somebody moving behind the door, apparently picking up the key, then he heard the lock of the door click. He didn't really care for it. They could do with him as they pleased. Maybe Natsuo would bring help, and he'd even actually survive this experience. But still, it was better this way. Natsuo was safe. He had done one thing right by him. He turned one last time to the TV, then he froze in sudden panic. Natsuo … What was he doing back on the feed?

As the door burst open and two members of the league wrestled him to the ground, he didn't even look at them as his eyes were glued onto the screen where Natsuo came back to the house of his own free will, talked to Twice as if they were old friends and then entered the house again.

They hadn't lied, Enji knew at once. Dabi had told the truth. Natsuo had not only come of his own free will- he'd been in on this from the start. Enji had thought Natsuo might have come by himself, thinking maybe he was only visiting his girlfriend, but then they had forced him to stay there so he couldn't leave. But no … He had come of his own free will, and he had still been there of his own free will. Maybe he was just naïve, not knowing what he was doing, not believing he was actually in danger, that these people were the League of Villains, not a bunch of university friends. Or maybe he'd been in on it from the start and had never been in danger, and Enji had fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

Whatever it was, it didn't help him as the villains wrestled him down, forcing more shackles and chains on him in order to restrict his movements. They then dragged him out of the room and deeper into the apartment, pushing him into a room that now was clearly a cellar, a dungeon even, not a rundown sous-terrain apartment.

They closed the iron door, leaving him alone and tightly chained in a dingy stone cell with little light. Only then did he realize that he had left both the phone and Natsuo's diary with them. And Natsuo, of course, he was still with them, too.

* * *

Sorry, I have to leave you on a cliff-hanger.

What do you think? Now we have all three of them, Natsuo, Enji and Dabi at the same place? What will happen next?

On a different note, I was really happy to see, that again some readers gahered the evidence of the case and came to the right conclusions. It makes me so happy to see that.

I hope Enji's behaviour here (mainly his quick surrender) didn't seem ooc? Somebody is (in his eyes) holding a gun to his son's head, but I'm still not entirely sure, if the quick surrender makes sense.

Greetings Ceies.


	7. Natsuo's Part

A/N: Hi,

I'm really sorry that it took so long. I actually wanted to update at the end of april, but I couldn't find the time for it. So here is finally the next part.

I hope you like it and it will somewhat make up for the long wait. This is... almost the finale of the first part of the story.

* * *

 **Natsuo's Part**

He had been an idiot. He should have listened to his instincts when they had warned him that Natsuo had sounded weird for a guy in apparent mortal danger. Instead he had ignored the feeling. He could blame it on his overall helplessness, the feeling of being overwhelmed in the situation, of course. His son had run away and gotten kidnapped by the League of Villains, and they had threatened him with his son's life. And all of that when he had only last week started to try and reconcile with his children. He'd been thoroughly out of his depth, and more importantly, he hardly even knew Natsuo anymore. How could he have expected anything like that when even Shoto and Fuyumi hadn't?

There were noises outside, coming shortly after they'd closed the door. Surely they were celebrating their victory. Capturing the number one hero without any losses on their side. Not a bad feat. And he had fallen for it like a naïve idiot.

When the door opened, Enji tried to at least straighten up somewhat to retain his dignity and not lay sprawled over the floor, which was difficult with the way they had him shackled hand and foot.

The first who came in was Himiko Toga chuckling madly, then after her trailed Dabi with a broad grin on his scarred features.

"We finally have you," sang Himiko as she danced toward him and then around the hero. It made his skin crawl having her so close. "Now, what do we do with you, Endeavor?"

Enji didn't answer, but he leaned slightly away from her prying fingers, touching the side of his face. He wished he had his flames now. He could burn her fingertips easily and … with his flames he would easily deal with them both. Dabi might be a bit troublesome, since he had a fire quirk himself. But still, Enji was confident in his fighting skills. However chained as he was, he could only squirm away from her.

"Yeah, what are we going to do with you, Todoroki?" asked Dabi repeating the question mockingly.

Enji scowled at him. "As if you don't have a plan. Do what you want, villain."

Himiko hit him at that, as if she took offense to the word 'Villain'. It was just her flat palm against his face, but her fingernails traced red lines over his unscarred cheek. Then she grabbed him at the neck, trying to choke him, but with too little strength in her lithe fingers. Enji just glared at her defiantly, breathing a bit louder than necessary. His defiance made her angry and suddenly she produced a knife in her hand and stabbed him in the shoulder. He grunted, the shock of the sudden attack overpowering the pain for a moment. Then when she slid the knife down his chest to give him a shallow bloody cut, he hissed in pain.

"Actually," she smiled at him. "We didn't really think you'd be stupid enough to just fall for this. It was such", she struck him again with the knife, and he barely managed to catch the attack with his shackled hand, so she cut deep into his palm, "An. Easy. Trap." With every word she lashed out again, until Dabi caught her hand with the last attack. She seemed disappointed but simultaneously excited. "We didn't really think you'd fall for it. You must really love him." Dabi's face twisted angrily with her words. What was it to him?

"Let me go," Himiko asked Dabi with that childish smile of hers. "I just want to have a bit of fun with him. It's not like he's going to die anytime soon. You'll have him later."

Dabi seemed about to disagree, when they heard voices outside. "Don't kill him quite yet," warned Dabi, "I'll have to talk to Natsuo."

His son's name made Enji look up and ignore Toga for a moment, even though she had her arm raised again for the next attack. Dabi didn't say what he and Natsuo had to talk about though. He just left and Enji found himself alone with the crazy girl. He barely even moved when her blade sliced across his back. Then he tried to fend off her next attack, so she cut into his arm again instead of his upper body.

It hurt, but all the wounds were shallow. They bled and that apparently made her blush with twisted excitement. They also burned, but they weren't crippling. Maybe she thought he was already weakened, as she came a bit too close to him, her stance too relaxed. He lashed out at once, grabbing her ankle and throwing her off balance. She smacked her back on the ground, screaming in surprise, and Endeavor scrambled after the knife she'd let go of. He barely touched it when he felt another sharp pain in his calf, where she had sunk a second knife in all the way to the hilt. Then the door burst open and his right hand that was holding the knife was engulfed in blue flames that burned his skin. He screamed in furious pain as he suddenly found himself surrounded by Dabi, Himiko and Twice – still out of his villain costume.

He had to let go of the knife as the flames got too hot. Then he was kicked in the face by Twice and knocked off balance.

There was more movement in the room as somebody else came in. Out of the corner of his eye, he recognized the white hair. Natsuo.

"What …," he heard his son ask. "What's the meaning of this, Haruka? What did you do?" He pushed past Dabi and Twice to stare at the bleeding and hurt hero. He seemed absolutely baffled and shocked, Enji realized. And why did he still call her Haruka? "This wasn't what we planned," he screamed angrily at Himiko. Then he knelt beside Enji to stop the bleeding at his shoulder.

Himiko Toga laughed silently, which only seemed to make Natsuo angry. "We didn't … What did you think!?" He seemed genuinely angry as he looked at his father's other injuries. His concern baffled Enji. Had he not known? What did Natsuo think this was about?

"Get back, Natsu. Let us deal with him." That was Dabi talking.

"What do you mean, deal with him?" The boy turned around in confused anger. "Did you know about this? This wasn't what we agreed on!"

"What we agreed on?" repeated Dabi. "I'm just trying to help you, Natsu!"

"What?" Natsuo shook his head in confusion. "What do you mean? We achieved what we wanted, right? It's over."

"Don't be naïve, Natsu!" Dabi's voice rose in volume. He spoke to Natsuo as if they were close, Enji realized as he slowly made his way back to an upright sitting position, despite his son clearly wanting him to stay lying down.

"Naïve?" Natsuo didn't sound quite that confused anymore. Instead he watched Dabi and the other two warily.

"He's still alive, Natsu!" Dabi screamed angrily. "Don't you see it? If we let him go now, he's just going to go back to how everything was before. He's going to hurt you and the others again!" Enji now stared at him with that same bafflement Natsuo had had on his face earlier, but for a completely different reason. Why did Dabi care about any of this? It sounded as if he genuinely cared, as if he was genuinely angry for what Enji had done to his family. Why would he care? How would he even know? Had Natsuo told him that much or …

"That was your plan? To kill him? We just wanted to test him. See if he cared. And he came!" Natsuo explained desperately. "It's over. Just let us go home."

"No," Dabi answered, suddenly calmer. "You can go, Natsu. We never forced you to stay. But he'll remain here. I'll take care of him. I promise, everything will be fine."

"What do you mean, everything will be fine? You can't hurt him! Stop it!" Natsuo sounded more desperate by the second.

"Leave, Natsu. I knew from the start that you'd be too naïve for this. Too good. But I'm not. I know what I have to do, the only way to stop him for good."

"But he changed!" Natsuo tried to argue. "That's what this was all about. To see if he'd change. And he came!"

"It's not enough!" Dabi screamed back. "It's never enough! He'll never really change, believe me!" There was a crazed look on his face that only twisted more and more with every word he spoke. "Go, Natsu. I'll deal with this. Don't worry."

"You can't do this," Natsuo seemed unable to understand that Dabi truly could do it. That Enji was subdued, unable to protect himself. "You can't kill him. You can't kill somebody!"

"That's where you're wrong," Dabi exploded. "I can … I have killed. All in preparation for this."

Natsuo stared, gobsmacked. Enji was stunned into silence for a moment. What did this Dabi-guy have to do with him? But he caught on faster than Natsuo. "They are the League of Villains," Enji said quietly to Natsuo. The boy didn't seem to understand at first, and suddenly … everything shifted into place, and Enji understood. "You didn't know …" He whispered it like a sudden realization. That was why Natsuo still referred to Himiko Toga as his girlfriend Haruka.

He had indeed been a part of this whole kidnapping from the very start. He must have asked his 'girlfriend and her friends' to help him test his father's new-found love for his children. Come up with a fake kidnapping to see if Enji really cared. Only that, while it was just that for Natsuo – a test – it was more for the League. Of course, …they finally had Endeavor in their grasp, the man they had failed to kill with their Nomu-attack not even two weeks ago.

"You're …," suddenly Natsuo sounded as if he were close to tears. "You're the League of Villains? You can't be. Tou …"

Dabi shook his head. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this. But it's better this way. I'll deal with father, and you … you can go home and live in peace, finally." The wording caught Enji's attention. What had he said? Father? "Twice, get him out of here."

"You can't …" Natsuo shook his head. Then he suddenly turned to Enji and there were truly desperate tears in his eyes. "I didn't know!" he blurted, "I didn't know. I swear."

"I know," Enji said, but he was staring at Dabi trying to understand his last words.

"You sure we shouldn't just kill him?" grunted Twice. "He's going to tell the police. Blow this whole thing." Then his voice shifted. "But Natsu's a friend. He won't betray us, would he?"

Dabi suddenly turned on Twice angrily. "Hurt him, and I will kill you, Twice! He won't betray us. I know … He knows … this is the best alternative, and he knows! Natsu would never betray me!" The certainty in his voice was baffling. "Go. And don't harm a single hair on his head!"

Twice put his hands in the air defensively, then he turned and grabbed Natsuo around his arm. "Let me go!" Natsuo screamed and fought. "Let me go. You can't do this!" He fought all the way to the door.

"NATSUO!" Enji roared suddenly. Everyone stared at him. "Go with him!" At least that way, his kid would be safe. He'd have achieved what he came here to achieve, after all. In a way, it felt like a burden was lifted off his chest when Twice dragged a more compliant Natsuo out of the room and towards the outside world, even if Enji was truly alone with the enemy now. An enemy that hated him, an enemy that …

"Don't do this! Don't, TOUYA!" was the last thing, Enji heard.

* * *

A/N: soo, the secret is finally out! How will Enji react?

Also I hope Natsuo's whole role in this is understandable. I thought about how likely it would be to actually be 'in league' with the League, and decided: not very. So, he kind of... ended at this place by accident, trusting the wrong people. And Touya and him also obviously have big differences in what kind of situation they immagined. While Natsuo wanted to 'test' his father (tho with an admittedly kind of stupid and cruel game, especially considering he didn't even tell his other siblings) Touya wants more from this situation.

What a ruined family...


	8. The First Born

**The First Born**

His eyes widened minutely. Of course, Dabi had called him father, and he should have understood then. He should have recognized him, Enji thought angrily. Back during the first time he saw Dabi he should have recognized his own flesh and blood, even if he'd been close to passing out. That … maybe that could be excused. But even today, when he had heard his voice through the phone for hours and had been face to face with him for the second time now … Why hadn't he realized?

Of course, as far as Enji had known, Touya had died six years ago. Enji still remembered the day; he'd never forget it. The moment when he had come home from work to a confused Shoto, a crying Fuyumi and an almost apathetic Natsuo. Even the nanny he had hired to take care of his kids after he had put Rei in the clinic seemed distraught. He remembered the police in front of his entryway and the ambulance. He remembered silent whispering until they saw him, and a detective coming to him, with a somber face and the message that his son had burned himself alive down at the river just after school. There had been witnesses to the inferno and no body left to bury. He remembered the questions and he remembered going to the hospital to tell his wife. He remembered her crying, her cursing and blaming him and himself agreeing with her. He remembered how he had drunken himself into a blind stupor until he was drunk enough that he didn't feel the guilt anymore. And as he sobered up again, he started telling himself it had been Touya's own decision. The boy had been seventeen, old enough to deal with his problems. And so he had put the blame on his son, to shift it off himself. It had been the only way he could move forward. But he knew just because he didn't blame himself anymore, that didn't mean that Natsuo or the others didn't blame him.

And now … here he stood. Now that he knew, he wondered how he hadn't seen it earlier. Sure, Touya had those scars, those horrible scars that were too geometrical to not be self-inflicted. Staples in his face and on his arms around the scar-tissue. He had also dyed his hair to dark brown and he had of course aged six years, was in his mid-twenties, rather than his late teens. But he was still skinny the way he always had been, that physical build that he had inherited from his mother's family and exactly what Enji had always meant when he talked about his 'weak condition'. His eyes were the same as Enji's. His stature aside, Touya had always looked the most like Enji. Even more so than Shoto's right side. He still had his mother's build, Enji realized, but most of what looked so much like Enji had been burned off. It was the same for Shoto, he realized. The resemblance to Enji had been burned off him as well. At least until Enji too got his very own facial scar.

"Touya …," he heard himself mumbling after what felt like an eternity. His son sneered down at him. "How are you alive? This is …," but he didn't know how to end that sentence: Impossible, horrible, the greatest thing? His son was alive, apparently; he had never killed himself, but he had been so horribly burned, and he was a villain and trying to murder Endeavor – and not for the first time.

"Don't use that name!" Touya demanded angrily.

"What? But you're him, you're Touya," For a moment he was confused. Was it all a cruel joke after all? "You're my son!"

"I'm not your son. Not since you abandoned me. All of us. Not since you took my mother from me!"

Enji stared at him. Oh, right? "I don't understand," he said anyway, because there were other matters more pressing to him. "How are you alive? They told me you had killed yourself! There were witnesses."

"They saw a boy go up in flames. It's not like they actually dared to get close enough," Touya explained with a wave of his hand as if this was all unimportant.

"What? Was this what you wanted, then? To fake your own death?" he got inexplicably angry then. Had Touya just gone and faked his death and left them all to mourn him? It seemed so unlike the boy he thought he knew.

"I didn't fake my death," Touya roared back at him even angrier than Enji was. "I was angry and confused and …" He cut himself off, crossing his arms. "I don't need to tell you," he decided angrily.

"Don't tell me, then," Enji bellowed back. He felt relieved that his son was still alive, even though he wasn't quite unhurt, but still, in good enough health. But he was so confused. "Then if you didn't want to fake your death, why didn't you come back!?"

"As if you would have wanted me back. Don't tell me you weren't glad you had one mouth less to feed. You only ever had eyes for little Shoto! Don't try telling me you even cared for the rest of us!" Touya screamed, his decision to not tell Enji anything instantly forgotten.

It felt like a hit in the face, because although he knew he had been a horrible father, it always hurt to get it thrown in his face. But he was over that initial hurt faster than expected. "Not for me, then," he relented, "but what about your siblings! Your mother! Do you have any idea, how it was, breaking the news to her that her eldest child had killed himself. Or where they all in on it, too?" He suddenly had to wonder. Natsuo knew … who said Enji wasn't the only idiot actually mourning his son? But no, he remembered how they had been back then. Even Natsuo-that couldn't have been faked. And his wife, Rei, had completely collapsed. If she'd been in a horrible state before, then surely the news of her eldest son's death had been the thing directly responsible for taking away what little sanity she had left..

"You don't know anything!" Touya screamed. "Of course, they didn't know! Nobody knew! I didn't plan to fake my death! Natsuo only found out because he recognized me, when we met two years ago!"

"Then why didn't you come back?" Enji asked again, calmer now, because he still couldn't understand that, but his initial anger was gone. If it wasn't planned and Touya obviously hadn't wanted the rest of his family – Enji aside – to mourn or suffer because of him, then why hadn't he come back? It seemed so impossible to understand.

"I couldn't!" Touya screamed at him. "It's all your fault!" He stomped two steps toward Enji until he stood right in front of him, seething in anger. Enji didn't evade backwards but he did feel a bit threatened as he saw angry blue flames licking along Touya's arms. "If it hadn't been for you …! I wished you were dead! I was hurt, alright? I had lost control, and I burned myself. Some homeless guy pulled me out of the river, and It took days until I healed. But when I was ready to come back you had already told everybody and their mother that I was dead. There wasn't even a body, but you couldn't wait to tell everybody the happy news that your no-good loser of a son was gone!" He was crying in anger Enji realized, stunned by his son's words. "You think I wanted to be dead? You think I wanted to be away from my siblings and mother? But it wasn't that bad, really! You'd taken my mother, anyway, and my youngest brother, too. Once I realized that, it wasn't that bad." He breathed heavily. "And I realized I could finally do what I should have done all along. Free myself of you!"

"Touya …," he heard himself say, but he didn't even know what to say to that. It didn't matter anyway because he wouldn't have been able to say it.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" screamed the boy as he hit Enji with a flaming fist in the face. He hit him twice, but the contact wasn't long enough that Enji's clothes or hair caught fire. He was stunned from the sudden attack, though; he had burned a bit of his skin along his jawline and bitten his tongue in the attack. "Don't you ever use my name again!"

"Dabi, then …," Enji muttered, not willing to fight with his son over that point, but still not really knowing what he had wanted to say. "Listen, I'm sorry, I …"

"Keep your empty apologies. I'm not Fuyumi. I've not been waiting for this impossible moment when you would finally change. I know you better than that." Touya seemed oddly calm now, as if hitting Enji had alleviated some of his stress. "You might even mean it now, but first chance, it will all be the same again. No, I've freed myself of you. And now, I'll free my siblings of you too, for good, this time."

Enji stared at him. "You really want to kill me?" It seemed ridiculous, but there was a serenity in Touya's eyes that made Enji believe every word.

However, before Touya could say anything else, suddenly the door burst open. "We have him!" It was Shigaraki Tomura. "I can't believe it. We actually have the number one hero." He came sauntering in, walking up to where Enji knelt in the center of the room right in front of Touya. There was an impossibly wide smile on dry lips, visible because he didn't wear that ridiculous hand over his face. "Ah, isn't that great! I wish we'd also gotten All Might this way." He moved his hands towards Endeavor. "Tell me, do you have a good idea, how to get to All Might?" he asked as his hands made contact with Enji's shoulders and chest. Enji didn't flinch away although everything in him wanted to evade contact at any cost. It wouldn't help for long though, and for now, he'd rather look defiant than meek, even if it might end in his death. "Or Toshinori, that's his name now, right? It's a shame that he's all so well protected in that school since his retirement. You don't know a way to get in there now, do you?"

Enji felt his shirt getting brittle with Shigaraki's touch, then it flaked off him in grey dust. Immediately he could feel the searing pain from Shigaraki's decaying quirk. He hissed in pain. Before now, he had only ever read about it. Eraserhead had reported on this ability; the hero still carried a scar on his elbow from their encounter at USJ, but Endeavor himself had never actually fought with the new leader of the League of Villains. The quirk was even more painful than he had imagined. He could feel his skin die off layer by layer, the quirk's power seeping into his body slowly and superficially but with indescribable pain.

"Well, Number One Hero? Why don't you help us get inside UA, huh?" There was this wide smile, but Enji wouldn't give in. This was horribly painful, but he was the number one hero … he had a responsibility that did not allow him to just cave in. So instead of answering, he turned away slightly, screaming in pain, as Shigaraki's hands shifted a bit on his chest and ripped two more palm-sized patches of skin off his chest, leaving his flesh open and bloody.

Shigaraki laughed maniacally, then he pulled his smartphone from his pocket. "Did you know we hacked the hero database months ago?" he asked with a broad evil smile on his face. "Sadly, half the information is hidden away under extra layers of security, but with your fingerprints, retina scan and password … oh, we'd be able to get so much new information, don't you think?"

Enji shuddered a bit. So Touya would kill him, that much was clear, but before that Shigaraki and the League would torture him for information. He knew he was in for hell on earth, when Shigaraki's fingers moved to grab him again.

Half an hour passed, until they thought he was ready, and indeed he didn't have much more to give. He guessed that they probably were also pressed for time. While Touya seemed sure that Natsuo would not betray him, Shigaraki was not so sure, so he wanted this whole affair over in an hour, max. Enji had been able to grasp that much between his bouts of pain and agony, but mostly he'd just tried to think himself away and not think too hard about anything connected to the League. He was nauseous, felt light-headed from blood loss, and his skin was hurting from the combination of burns, Toga's knife wounds, and Shigaraki's agonizing way of flaying him alive. His injuries were mostly superficial, he guessed, though he bled a lot. But still, they hurt like hell.

It was then that Shigaraki finally used Endeavor's fingerprints, scanned his retina with his smartphone camera, and asked Endeavor to say the password into the microphone. Enji had to say it himself, for voice recognition.

"Now, Mr. Hero," sneered Shigaraki, oddly serious. "The password please."

But Enji wasn't that far gone yet. "Compromised," he mumbled into the microphone and at once his whole access to the database shut off immediately. Shigaraki was furious, but not too surprised. They were under pressure and Enji realized getting to the database had only really been an added plus to what they already considered a very successful day.

"End it, Dabi," demanded Shigaraki as he stood up and moved to the door. "We'll leave soon. Hurry a bit."

"I told you, not to worry," Touya answered almost a bit bored. He had watched the entire ordeal of Enji's torture, even participated in some of the burnings, but obviously he was mostly in for the killing.

"Take however long you need," Shigaraki relented, "But in the end, he's dead."

"Oh, he will be," assured Touya, "Rest assured." There was a short pause, then: "Would you mind giving me a quirk erasure bullet?"

Shigaraki only laughed at that. "Quirk erasure?" He drew a gun and threw it at Dabi. "We only have a hand full of those. No sense wasting them on dead men." He pointed at the gun that Enji's son held somewhat awkwardly. "If you wanna use a gun, that's more than enough."

Touya seemed unhappy about this, but he accepted it after a moment. "We'll leave you at that. Bet you'll want some alone time." Toga grinned, as she followed Shigaraki back out of the room.

When they were alone, Enji drew himself back to his knees. It took all his willpower to not immediately topple over from pain and exhaustion, but if he had to be shot by his own son – and what a horrible fate that was – he wanted it to happen while there was still some defiance left in him, at least sitting as upright as possible.

But Touya didn't shoot him. He also made no move to free him, though. Instead, he suddenly had Natsuo's diary in his hand.

"12th of May," he read and Enji felt a sudden dread, a feeling even greater than the pain and torture twisting his stomach. "Touya's death is seven days ago. I tried to speak to Father, but he doesn't even look at me. I want to visit mom, but Father does not allow it. Shoto isn't allowed to be with us either," he read on, "Father takes him to train every day and I can hear him cry in the night. Fuyumi cries, too, sometimes, when she thinks I can't hear. I hate it. I wish Touya was here, he always knew what to do. He was the only one who dared to stand against Father. Sometimes I wished he had died instead of Touya."

Enji hated hearing his son's words from the mouth of his other son, but he knelt quietly for a moment, hoping it would be over soon.

"13th of May, I found Shoto crying in the kitchen. He's been scratching his scar. Father told him he was weak because he couldn't stop scratching. It only made it worse. Fuyumi sent me to buy some ointment." Touya paused shortly and looked down at Enji, then he proceeded. "14th of May. Hurt my wrist in school. Father didn't even realize, when he made me do chores. I didn't dare tell him. He'd just say I'm weak. Instead Fuyumi helped me. Haven't seen Shoto all day. I want to visit mom, but Father says it would be bad for her. She didn't take Touya's death well."

Enji wanted it to stop. Natsuo wasn't a passionate diary writer, maybe that was the reason he had only ever written in a diary just this one time right after his brother's supposed death. The entries weren't long or detailed.

"16th of May. Father is out on patrol all night. I had a nightmare about Touya. Fuyumi brought me to the doctor while Father was gone. My wrist is broken and a bit infected." Again, Touya made a short pause before proceeding. "17th of May. Skipped school today, because of broken wrist. Father found out. He came home from work after the night shift and immediately flipped his shit. Called me a weak No-Good. He didn't even really look at me. Sometimes I think, he'd rather I were dead than Touya. At least Touya had a somewhat decent quirk. He left to train Shoto the rest of the day. I'm actually kind of glad I didn't have to see him again." Another short pause. "18th of May. Fuyumi lost it today. She just started crying in the middle of the day. It's because of Touya, but she also tries to stay strong for all of us. Father just up and left to train Shoto." It went on like that and Enji just stared blankly at his son, letting the words wash over him. 19th of May, Shoto had been hurt in training. 20th of May, Enji trained his son despite his injury to the point of vomiting. 21st of May, I skipped school again, but Enji didn't even find out until the next day. 22nd of May, Enji screamed at me for a solid thirty minutes until he vanished to work and didn't come back until two days later. 23rd of May, I played with Shoto after school and 24th of May, Enji came back from work and was angry that Shoto hadn't kept up training without him there. He had forbidden Shoto to play with his siblings at all until Shoto caught up in his training, which was most likely never. 25th of May, I visited a friend without telling father, and stayed there for two days and Enji didn't even realize. 26th of May, Fuyumi called me at my friend's house saying that she wanted to visit mother, but called again later that day to say it didn't work out after all. I stayed with my friend. 27th of May, The school called Enji because of another missed school day. He called the police and let them drag me back home and grounded me for a week. 28th of May, Shoto vomited during training, Fuyumi drove him to the hospital, they prescribed rest, Enji actually allowed Shoto the rest of the day off. 29th of May, I felt guilty that I hadn't protested when Enji started training Shoto again that afternoon. 30th of May, I wanted to plan his birthday celebrations, but still had house arrest, so his birthday party would be cancelled. 31st of May, Fuyumi came home from university with a test she'd written an A in, Enji didn't even acknowledge it. "1st of June," read Touya after surely another half an hour had passed. "My Birthday. No Party, still can't visit mom, Shoto is training, Fuyumi baked a cake. I miss Touya."

"Stop it," Enji finally demanded. Only now did Touya look up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You can't even listen to your son's words."

"I've listened to it for the last thirty minutes", he countered. Touya seemed angry with that comment, but before he could say anything else, Enji spoke on. "I know what I did. I know you don't believe my regret is genuine, and maybe you're right and I'll relapse in a short time, but I know what I did. I'm sorry. You can't imagine how sorry I am. Reading my son's six-year-old diary to me won't change anything. I know this already."

Touya shut the book furiously and stomped towards him, though he didn't seem to have an exact plan, so Enji took matters into his own hands. Suddenly he grabbed his son's hand that held the pistol loosely at his side. He gripped it too hard for the weak hero to take it from him, but that wasn't what he wanted, anyway. Instead, he held the gun to his own temple, glaring up at Touya.

"Reading that diary to me won't change a thing," he hissed, "I don't even know what you want to achieve with that. I know what I did. And if you want to shoot me for it, do it! I might well deserve it. But once you do that, maybe you can come down from your high horse. Once I'm gone, who is there to blame, huh?"

Touya stared at him, first shocked, then stunned, then dumbfounded and then angry again. "Blame? You think this is about blame? You destroyed my life. This is about justice."

"Justice?" spat Enji. "Fine, take it. I told you, shoot me, if that's what you want. But what then? What about your own crimes, huh? I see it clearly. You feel bad about not coming back, don't you? You read those words, and you feel it's partly your fault because had you come back, maybe Natsuo and Fuyumi would have been happier, maybe your mother would be, maybe Shoto would have an older brother to stand up for him. You're probably right. But you know what, I'm happy to take all that on myself. That's my fault, I know that. And if you think my life is the only way to make up for that, so be it." He breathed in heavily. "But for the other part, I'm not willing to take the blame."

"What other part?" Touya asked, actually confused, ripping the gun out of Enji's grasp at his forehead.

"You're a killer, Tou—" Bang. He hadn't even finished saying the name, when the shot fell and the bullet burrowed deep into his side until it hit his hip bone. For a moment he gasped more in surprise than pain, then he stared at the barrel of the gun, dumbfounded. Right, he remembered now, he wasn't supposed to use that name. "Dabi," he hissed through clenched teeth. "You're a killer, Dabi. A murderer, an arsonist and a villain."

"Because you …"

"No," Enji cut in, "So, you're going to shoot me, and in ten years you're still going to say 'oh, but my father…'? You're a 24-year-old man. You're older than I was when you were born. Take some fucking responsibility, son!" This time the shot was just meant as a warning shot. It just scraped past his shoulder and Enji wasn't even sure if it dug past the first layers of skin at all.

"What do you know about taking responsibility? You nev-…" He was suddenly cut off.

"This is the police!" a megaphone enhanced voice announced. "Surrender and no one will come to harm."

Touya seemed utterly confused, then. "How …?" he muttered. But it was obvious, despite everything Touya had believed in, that Natsuo had called the police.

"I repeat. Come out with your hands up over your heads and surrender and nobody will be hurt."

"Shit," Touya hissed and raised his gun again. It seemed like he didn't even think about using his quirk. Enji just waited, but instead, the seconds dragged on into minutes.

"You should surrender," Enji heard himself say. "They won't harm you if you surrender. Or you could run …" He could hardly even believe that he had made the suggestion, but now that his son was back alive, he couldn't bear the thought that he might get shot by the police. "I could-…" Bang.

The third bullet hit him in the chest. For a second, he realized that it was a bit off, not quite right, not quite where the heart was. He didn't even fall unconscious right away. Instead he felt himself fall face down in front of his son, and he felt his chained hands move above his head blindly grabbing his son's trousers. He didn't even know why he held onto them, maybe his fingertips also only got stuck in them, but as Touya pulled away, he didn't let go. Then there was a fourth loud bang and Enji lost consciousness before he realized where in his back the fourth bullet hit.

* * *

And this concludes this part of the story.

I hope you liked the finale of part one ^^

To be honest, when I first started writing I wanted to end it with this conflict, but then there was so much left to do, I couldn't just end it there. So, this is when I realized the story would get much longer than originally planned.

I hope the emotions hit well. This was supposed to be very emotional.

Anyway, now that this part is done, I wonder what you guys would be looking forward to in the later parts of the story.


	9. Recovery Period

**Recovery Period**

There was a gun at his head, the smooth cold metal of the barrel resting against his forehead, just waiting to take his life. He could see himself, red hair and turquoise eyes, holding the gun. The person looked like a younger version of himself, he realized, much younger, and with a slenderer build. Not him at all, but his son. He couldn't move, couldn't even talk or look away from the gun, his son … the scars.

He suddenly sat upright. Peep-peep-peep. It was the stinging pain of his injuries, furious over the sudden movement, that made him realize where he was. A hospital bed, the heart monitor racing with his panic but now quickly calming down.

"Dad!" Somebody cried in shock and there was hasty movement to his side. As he glanced to the side, there was Fuyumi, almost stumbling over her feet as she jumped up from her chair to hurry over to him. "What are you doing, Dad? Lay back down! Your injuries…" She pushed him slightly against the shoulder to push him back on the mattress that he must have practically jumped out of as he violently woke from his nightmare.

He hissed involuntarily, as her fingers brushed one of his wounds. "Ah, sorry, sorry," she said hurriedly and a bit sheepishly, removing her hands at once. "But you should really lie back down. Sorry, did I hurt you?"

He stared at her for a moment, still a bit disoriented from his sudden awakening, but then he leaned back down on the mattress. "No, it's fine," Endeavor answered, not entirely honest. But now that he could assess his situation more calmly, he realized his entire torso was a patchwork of different wounds and scrapes. He couldn't even move his left arm without severe pain. "What happened…?" He quieted as he remembered why he was here. It wasn't like he had forgotten, maybe pushed it to the back of his mind, but now the memories assaulted him full-force. He just stopped talking altogether, staring at the ceiling.

"You have forgotten?" she asked. She seemed a bit uncomfortable with having to tell him. "We…The League of Villains had you," she then explained with as objective a voice as she could muster. She was clearly distraught. "But they let Natsu go, and he called the police."

She left out the part where he had been tortured, he realized. Overall, she didn't mention any injuries and he was fairly grateful for that. She also didn't mention Natsuo's part in this affair, or Touya, and suddenly Enji realized that maybe she didn't know yet. He looked around the hospital room. It was clean and bare as they always were. Some hospital machinery and equipment around the bed, a book and a newspaper that Fuyumi must have brought with her at his bedside table and two plastic chairs to the side. There was a TV on a small shelf next to the door and a window to his left with light blue curtains.

"Natsuo?" he asked, realizing that Fuyumi was the only one here. He felt tired and positively shredded and whatever they gave him through the IV-line made sure his brain wasn't all there. His own voice sounded foreign to him.

"He's…" Fuyumi bit her lip, and he realized she felt bad about her being the only one here. "He was here yesterday," she said. "But you know him, he takes his studies seriously and had to get back, so…" Endeavor just frowned sadly at her sugar coating. He should have expected as much. The boy had probably fled the hospital as soon as the doctors had reassured him his father would be fine eventually. He was too tired to feel angry. He didn't even really feel disappointed, just more tired.

"But Shoto will be back tomorrow!" declared Fuyumi, happily. "He has some school exercise today."

Enji felt himself nod. He wanted to ask what time it was, and how long he'd been out, but he was back asleep before he could.

When he woke up again, Shoto was in the room. Him and Fuyumi both. They were whispering between themselves, and Endeavor first had trouble following, before he heard Natsuo's name. They hadn't realized he was awake again.

"He's not going to come, Fuyumi," declared Shoto. "Just let it be."

"But how can he be so stubborn?" She sounded exasperated.

"Come on, Fuyu, you know." Shoto seemed almost a bit annoyed. "Just because you're that fast to forgive, doesn't mean…It's difficult, okay?"

"It's not like that," hissed Fuyumi. "You know that! It's not like I forget and forgive anything, it's just…He's in really bad shape. They almost killed him. Twice, now!"

"I know," mumbled Shoto rubbing his forehead, "But it's just not that easy."

"Well, I didn't say it was easy. You think that you and Natsu are the only ones who have suffered?" She sounded close to tears, her voice filled with exhaustion and anger. "I have nightmares too, you know? But I want this to work!"

"I didn't say you didn't suffer," retorted Shoto defensively.

"And now he got injured protecting Natsu, and Natsu can't even come visit?" Fuyumi just went on without reacting to Shoto's words.

"It's no his fault that this happened," interrupted Shoto sharply.

"I didn't say it's his fault…It's just…It's just unfair." Now Endeavor was sure that she was crying silently. He could hear it in her voice. Shoto didn't interrupt her then to ask what she was referring to, instead he just let her talk. "It's just…I want this to work, Shoto. This year, when you and Mom and Father were all doing better, I thought, maybe this could work. All I ever wanted was a functioning family, and I hoped…But if it keeps going like that, they'll kill him, before we'll ever be a real family again!"

Enji couldn't see the two where they currently stood, not without turning and revealing that he was awake, but he was sure that Shoto had moved to hug his sister. He was again saying something, but it was just some comforting, unintelligible whispers, as Fuyumi's quiet sobs filled Enji's ears with deep sadness.

He had done this, he knew. Hearing it like this, not directed at him as an angry insult hurled straight at his face, but whispered in a conversation he wasn't even supposed to overhear, cemented it for him. Even Fuyumi, his daughter who had always been willing to give him a chance again and again, who'd been there for him when he hadn't known the right path after All Might had fallen...even she had nightmares of the suffering he had put her and her family through. Still, she wanted the same thing as he did. He just had to try harder, to make it happen and to make her happy again.

For the past few weeks, he realized, she had acted like she was fine, like she was happy and everything was forgiven, if not forgotten. But of course, that had been wrong. Fuyumi had just learned to smile in the face of tragedy. She hadn't forgiven him, she had just tried to hold this family together. Maybe he had known all along, but right now this knowledge weighed heavily on his soul. He would make it right! He still did not know how, but he would. He sure as hell would not let the League of Villains stop him. He would not let them kill him before he saw his daughter smile at him without having to hide her own suffering.

He wanted this. Gods, he wanted it so much! He realized then that he had tears in his eyes himself.

The next day, it was already Tuesday. Fuyumi came back to visit in the morning. The curtains were open, giving Enji a periphery view over Musutafu from where he sat on his bed.

"Have you taken your vacation days for me?" he suddenly realized.

"Well, somebody has to make sure that you take all the rest you need," she answered with a smile.

"You shouldn't…," he heard himself mumble even though the sentiment made him feel oddly flattered.

"I shouldn't?" she repeated a bit exasperatedly. "Yeah, you know what happened last time, when nobody had an eye on you? You went right back to your hero-ing. And look! Just a week later you almost got killed…" She had her hands on her hips, towering over his sick-bed with such a challenging look that he didn't dare to speak back at her.

"It's not like this happened during the hero-ing," he muttered silently into his pillow, but as she snapped and asked him what he had said, he didn't dare repeat it.

"Good," Fuyumi nodded after a moment of silence. "Did you know that one of my students called today?" She asked, happily sitting next to his bed. "Apparently, Asami was so sad that I didn't come to school yesterday that she called me at my house, isn't that cute? She even searched the internet and a phone book for the number. You know what?" She looked at him with a questioning look and an amused smile. "The first number she found was for your agency. And they gave her our home number. Isn't that cute?"

Enji was still not really interested in the children in her classes. He couldn't even remember the names when she told him of them, kept confusing them with each other, and she was always so annoyed and disappointed when he did. Still, he always listened when she told him these stories. Whenever they were alone together, it was really the only thing they could talk easily about without any past memories dampening the mood. So he listened, because he did like talking to her, even if there wasn't much he could say to add to those stories, but he couldn't remember the details afterwards. At least not the individual names or ages of the children. He remembered parts of the stories, of course: the Flower-Kid, the Bubblegum-Kid, the Kid that had almost burned down the school that one time, the All Might-Fanboy, the other All Might-Fanboy, the 'I'm related to Mt. Lady'-Kid, the Colorblind-Kid and the spoiled brat that had a new phone every week. Or was that the same as the Bubblegum-Kid? This girl, whatshername, would probably be the Phone Call-Kid. But he never remembered who was who, and sometimes because he kept confusing them, Fuyumi thought he didn't listen.

Now, he found himself staring at the ceiling and listening to her talk.

"Did you know, I actually have an Endeavor-Fan in class now. It's my first, but after last week Hayate came to school with a T-Shirt with your face on it. That was weird." The Endeavor-Fan, Enji named him automatically.

"I could give you an autograph for him," suggested Enji jokingly.

"Are you mad?" she retorted. "Once I start handing out Endeavor autographs, I'll never see the end of it." She rubbed the bridge of her nose in silent worry. "Now that I think about it, Asami will probably tell everybody that she has called your agency and then they'll all know." She seemed genuinely worried about that. "Ah, damn. I just wanted to be a boring teacher and now they're never going to leave me alone."

"You could bribe her to keep it quiet," he suggested.

She laughed at that. "What a heroic thing to say, Mr. #1 Hero: Bribing a seven-year-old."

He only shrugged at that. "I am off-duty, and I hope that should you ever be questioned about where you got that nefarious idea, you won't rat me out." He smiled as he imagined that scenario. "Imagine the publicity: Hero and elementary school teacher bribe minor to keep secret identity hidden." They both laughed at the suggestion, even though laughing still hurt him a bit. "Though, to be honest, that might even increase my popularity," he said thoughtlessly and smiled in amusement.

It was only when he realized Fuyumi had gotten quiet that he glanced at her and saw her smile wasn't really happy or careless anymore. His comment must have caused some memories to surface. Of course, his lack of popularity with the people – although it had shifted a bit recently – was thanks to his bad behavior over the years. Bad behavior and bad temper as a hero that had only been a weak reflection of his bad behavior at home.

All I ever wanted was a functioning family, he remembered her words from the day before.

"I want the same," he heard himself say quietly.

"Huh?" she asked, "What do you mean? What do you want?"

Of course, his words were completely out of context, but he didn't explain himself to her. He wasn't one to explain his thoughts. He wasn't good with words, didn't feel comfortable, telling people what he thought. He wanted to show her. And show her brothers.

All three of them, he remembered. He'd have to tell her that Touya was alive, he realized suddenly. He'd have to tell all of them, and his wife who still couldn't see him, or else the doctors feared he might trigger another break-down or set-back. How was he supposed to do that? Even now, thinking about having to tell Fuyumi right here left his mouth dry and him wanting for words. How was he going to tell her – or anybody – that her dead brother wasn't dead after all, but a horribly scarred, notorious villain, wanted across the country for several cases of arson, kidnapping, assault and murder?

Just thinking about Touya…or rather Dabi, made him nauseous. He didn't know what to do about that. He had to tell them, but how?

"Everything alright?"

Her question brought him out of his troubling thoughts.

"Uh, I'm fine." He lied and he was sure she could see the troubling thoughts on his face, but she didn't ask again, although she looked a bit disapproving and unhappy over his unwillingness to share.

"Your secretary, Inari? He came to visit yesterday, but you were asleep. He'll probably come again today or tomorrow." She finally changed the topic "Oh, and before I forget," she added, "I was supposed to tell you that the police will come later today for a statement. They wanted to come yesterday already, but you hardly managed to stay awake for more than fifteen minutes, so…Yeah, they'll need you to tell them what happened." She frowned worriedly. "You do remember, right?"

Enji was first confused by the question.

"You didn't seem to remember two days ago…," she was unsure. "You asked me what happened."

"Oh…," True, he had done that, "No, I remember." His answer sounded too subdued for his own liking. He had nightmares of the torture and of Dabi trying to kill him. Truth be told, he also had some nightmares of the Nomu he had fought, and of All For One, the villain All Might had defeated with his last strength. He didn't even know why he dreamed of him. Maybe it was the stress of having to take the #1 position and the slim chance that All For One might escape, placing such a heavy burden on Endeavor's shoulders when he still had no clue how a single human being could even be that powerful.

"You don't look fine," Fuyumi stated with a frown, pulling him out of his thoughts again.

"What?" Enji looked at her. "No, I'm just not looking forward to the interview," he explained, waving with one hand towards the many bandages. He still hadn't been able to see himself in a mirror again after the most recent incident, but he was sure by the time the bandages came off once and for all, he'd have some new scars on his back and torso. Fuyumi nodded, sympathetic that being tortured wasn't the easiest subject to talk about. Truthfully, though, he was much more worried about what he had to say about the people who had tortured him, rather than what exactly they had done: His son…His dead son.

He should be happy that Touya was alive, he thought, angry with himself. Instead, ever since he had woken up in the hospital, all he felt thinking about Touya or Dabi was nauseating dread. His own son had tried to murder him…with good reason or not, how was he supposed to move on from that? How could he? Or anybody for that matter?

* * *

Enji's in hospital now, to recover from his injuries. He'll probably stay there for a while.

Soon, he'll probably have to tell Fuyumi and Shoto...and the rest of the world! How do you think they'll react?

Also, now that Natsuo is safe, I'll try to focus more on the other two (Shoto and Fuyumi) and their relationship with Enji. They kind of took a back seat in the prior chapters. I hope these first dialogues with the three give you a good first impression on where they stand with each other.


	10. The Interview

So,

this is a bit of a recap-chapter to finally end that part of the Story. It got a bit long, but I decided against splitting it in half. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

 **The Interview**

As Fuyumi had said, the police came in the early afternoon. Tsukauchi wasn't among them, and Enji wondered whether he was even still working on the case. Instead there was a young woman with curly black hair and glasses and a man with greying hair and beard and a long brown coat. Endeavor had worked with the older man only once and the woman was completely foreign to him at first glance.

"Todoroki-san?" the older one greeted as Enji made to at least sit up in his bed. "Please, no need to stand up. Your injuries are quite severe, we heard," he said with a reassuringly raised hand. Enji frowned unhappily, but the man was right, so he eased back on his mattress. "Thank you, for seeing us," the man said then, as if Enji had actually made an appointment with the police, when in fact they had just come by with little prior notice. "My name is Dan Sato, Detective of the Musutafu Police, this is Detective Ai Ayasegawa." The woman bowed slightly as she was introduced.

Enji nodded. He realized immediately that this time they weren't really working together as hero and police, as he was used to. This time he was a victim and witness. It wasn't the first time the roles were like this. Once there had been a break-in at his agency, and a few times when a series of death threats had gotten so severe, he had brought them to the attention of the police. But still, even then they had mostly treated him with the respect they gave to every hero, as a colleague in law enforcement. Now, however, for the first time he was clearly a victim and witness rather than a colleague. It had started when they had first come in and asked him to lay back down for his injuries. They treated him with sympathy, care and formal distance, rather than the collegial respect he was used to.

"How are you feeling?" asked Ayasegawa with slight concern in her voice. "Are you able to answer some questions?"

"Yes," he said without thinking.

"Good, thank you," she smiled. There was something in her eyes though, Enji realized. Behind her professional smile there was something wary he couldn't place. He pushed it to the back of his mind for now. "This will take about an hour, I think," she guessed and sat down on one of the chairs with a notebook in hand. The older detective remained standing.

"You reported your son Natsuo Todoroki missing on Friday," she began. Enji nodded quietly. "Can you tell us what happened before Friday, that made you contact the police?"

He hadn't actually contacted the police, Enji remembered. It was All Might who had first asked his friend Tsukauchi for help, who had then made the case official. Ayasegawa and Sato surely knew this. Still, with his brain numbed by pain killers, Enji didn't think the question was odd.

"I didn't involve the police," Enji corrected, "I only found out Natsuo was missing on Thursday. All Might got involved because he brought my other son Shoto home from UA. It was he who then told Detective Tsukauchi on Friday."

Ayasegawa nodded. She didn't seem surprised. While Ayasegawa wrote into her notebook, Sato spoke up.

"Can you tell us, why you didn't involve the police when you first found out your son was missing?" Enji looked at the older man, but unlike Ayasegawa, if he had any wariness or suspicions of his own, he kept them well-hidden. The older man was a professionally blank mask of polite sympathy.

"We didn't know if it was even a crime yet," Enji admitted, "Natsuo had been," he hesitated, "in emotional turmoil and asked for some time alone the week before. So, as far as I knew, he could have just hidden at his girlfriend's house and everything was fine." He rubbed his temples, knowing that this was maybe a weak excuse. "Also, because of my position, I feared that as soon as I involved the police the case would become public. It would also warrant the whole attention of the police, and if in the end it was just a fluke, that would have wasted resources they could have spent on other cases." He tried to argue logically, but as he saw Ayasegawa's doubtful frown while she was writing, he realized he was maybe too clinical in his assessment.

"Your son was missing," Ayasegawa explained her doubts, "and you didn't want the police to waste resources?"

Enji realized that sounded unbelievable. "Now that you phrase it like that..." he admitted, allowing hos voice to trail off.

"It's not about how I phrase it," she said calmly. "As an active and experienced hero for many years you must know that in cases of kidnapping, it is imperative that the police act as soon as possible."

Enji nodded. "I know." Then he sighed. "Another reason was, without a doubt, that I wanted to look for him myself. I knew that once I went to the police, I would have to step away from the case. I didn't want to let it out of my hands."

"As a family member, you would have been emotional and prone to make mistakes," agreed Ayasegawa, "as a hero yourself…"

"I know that," he interrupted her, "from a professional standpoint."

Before Ayasegawa might scold him again for that decision, Sato spoke up: "So, on Thursday, before All Might informed the police, how did your own investigation go?"

"Slowly," answered Enji. He recounted what he had done to find his son. How Fuyumi had called his friends, and his secretary had called the University and student dorm management, how they had started to search for the girlfriend and how Silent Tracker had investigated the scene where they had lost the trace of his phone.

Ayasegawa wrote down what he said, but the way they looked they knew all that already. The thought that he was just recounting what they already knew, felt tiring.

When they got to Friday, he explained how Tsukauchi had been introduced to the case and how they found out about the girlfriend's true identity and the involvement of the League of Villains.

"How did you so quickly come to the conclusion, that the phone number was related to Himiko Toga?" asked Sato after Ayasegawa had written that part down as well.

"What do you mean?" asked Enji, not understanding the problem. "The phone number was in our database."

"Of course," Sato nodded, "but as far as we were informed, Himiko Toga in the disguise of Camie Utsushimi never actually started working as an intern in the Endeavor Hero Agency." Enji nodded. "You did not know Utsushimi-san, her application was retracted. Even if her application and phone number were still registered in your database, it seems odd, that you would immediately draw the conclusion that the League of Villains was involved, just because the number existed in your database under a different name."

"I don't understand the question," Enji admitted. "The phone number we found out was Haruka's also appeared in my agency for a different girl. Of course, that would seem suspicious to me."

"That is understandable. But the connection to the League of Villains is not," explained Ayasegawa. She turned back a few pages in her notebook. "Your son and daughter both said that when you found out Utsushimi-san had used that number, you immediately drew the connection to the League of Villains."

"Because Himiko Toga had posed as Utsushimi-san," Enji explained exasperated.

"But that is classified information," said Ayasegawa with a wary glint in her eyes. "For Utsushimi-san's own safety and future, the police and the Hero Association decided to keep the information hidden from anybody who didn't strictly need to know. As far as I'm aware, you were not among that circle of people."

"Her provisional Hero License that she used for her application was invalid by the time of the kidnapping," Enji answered, "I might not have been informed about the identity of the girl before, but I am able to connect two and two. I also saw Utsushimi-san when I visited my son during his provisional license training."

"But wouldn't it take time, to check the Hero-ID?" asked Sato. He sounded friendly, but Enji was sure he didn't quite believe him. Something wasn't right, he only now realized. He felt increasingly like he wasn't being interviewed as a victim or even only a witness, but as a potential suspect. "We have information from the National Hero Association that your inquiry about Utsushimi-san's ID already happened on Thursday, not on Friday."

Oh, now he understood. "I had my secretary check the ID on Thursday," he admitted. Then, he sighed. He wasn't ready to share his suspicions about a traitor in his own agency with the police or anybody quite yet, but he guessed there was no way around it now. "Not just hers. After my battle with the Nomu last week, I suspected there might be a traitor or leak somewhere in my agency. I don't know if it's true, but I had my secretary check everything suspicious. Her application seemed suspicious to him, so he checked it. When my agency found out the same phone number she used for her application was the number Natsuo kept calling, he informed me about what he had found out about her."

Sato and Ayasegawa finally both nodded satisfied. "Can you give us the name and contact of that secretary?"

He did, but then he finally had to ask: "So, what? Call me paranoid, but I'm starting to feel like a suspect here? Do you think I had a hand in my own son's kidnapping?" He asked, straight to the point.

"We're sorry, but we have to check every angle. Your son Shoto told us that you were also working on something else, while your son was missing. Then, adding the fact that you didn't call the police and that you seemed to know so much about Utsushimi-san to immediately draw the conclusion that the League of Villains was involved…There are just a few questions we have," Sato answered soothingly, but it didn't help in lifting Enji's suspicion.

Part of him new that, if he were in his right mind, he would probably ask for his lawyer now. Just in case. But he didn't. Maybe he just wanted to get it over with, or the pain killers stopped him from acting rationally or maybe he didn't care what conclusions they would draw.

"Have you found the traitor in your agency?" asked Ayasegawa.

"No," he answered shortly. "I still don't know if there even is one."

She didn't even write the answer down, he realized; it was just a distraction.

"So, after Detective Tsukauchi and Toshinori-san left your house, what happened then?"

Before Enji could even talk about the phone call, the door to his room opened and Fuyumi and Shoto came in. Enji immediately quieted down.

"Oh, should we wait outside?" Fuyumi asked after the surprise of having the police in the room subsided.

The detectives didn't answer. Maybe they didn't mind one way or the other. Enji minded though. He still did not know if and how he should talk about Natsuo's involvement or Touya's, but he was sure he couldn't talk about any of that at all, not as long as Shoto and Fuyumi were in the room.

"Could you wait outside?" he asked.

They seemed a bit put off by the question. "We know your injuries," Shoto said quickly, "it's not like this could shock us. But we would like to know what happened, too." Fuyumi nodded seriously.

It was important to them, he realized, that he didn't shut them out completely.

"Natsuo doesn't talk to us either, we just want…," started Fuyumi, but Enji cut her off.

"I'm sorry. I'm going to tell you, but not now." With a slight movement of his head he indicated the two detectives. Enji understood his children's worries. Their brother had been kidnapped, their father had been tortured, whatever other issue they had with him, they deserved to know what happened. They must be worried both for their father and brother. And if Natsuo hadn't told them anything, that meant they were essentially clueless. Enji had to tell them. He had to tell them anyway, because they needed to know about Touya. Even more so, if even Natsuo didn't explain anything to them. Just not now.

"If you could wait outside," asked Ayasegawa, obviously realizing that it would get difficult to get any information out of Enji as long as his children were in the room.

They nodded and left, but Enji could see the disappointment on their faces.

"Nice kids," Sato complimented as his gaze settled back on Enji.

"Thanks," mumbled Enji, not really feeling like he deserved that compliment. He took it anyway.

"So, after you and your children were alone in the house…?" Ayasegawa asked the last question again.

He told them about the phone call. Then he detailed his confusing journey with the public railway network, until he finally arrived at his destination. He explained how he arrived at the house and how he asked to speak to his son.

"Did Natsuo sound afraid? Distraught?"

"He sounded calm," Enji answered after a moment of silence. "I don't think he knew what exactly was going on."

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"I didn't at the time, but that's my conclusion now. I think he went there of his own free will. He probably thought the entire time that he was with friends. One of them was his girlfriend, after all."

"So, Himiko Toga was in disguise the entire time?"

"I don't know," he said.

"Did you meet her in disguise?"

"No," he admitted, "when I saw her after my surrender, she looked like herself."

"Did Natsuo see her in her true form?"

He frowned in thought. He didn't quite remember if they were in his little torture chamber together. "Maybe," he admitted, "I'm not sure. Maybe I saw them together."

"Maybe?" Ayasegawa seemed a bit put off by his uncertainty. "How about the other members of the League. Did he see them?"

"Yes," Enji admitted. "He saw the villain Twice out of costume, and," he couldn't help the hesitation, "and he saw Dabi."

"Are you telling me, Natsuo spent several days in the company of the League of Villains, some of the most notorious villains of our time, and he didn't realize?" asked Ayasegawa. She didn't even sound suspicious now, just confused. "And his father is a Pro-Hero?"

"Natsuo was never really interested in my work," declared Enji. He knew that wasn't entirely true. There had been a time when Natsuo was very interested. He had wanted to be a hero himself, thought that was cool, wanted his father's attention and praise and even asked to accompany his father to work one time. That was when Natsuo was much younger, of course, and Enji never relented. He didn't bring him to work because it was dangerous for a child of four or five years. And he didn't really pay much attention to him nor support him in his wish to become a hero, because at the age of four years his quirk manifested, and it hadn't been as powerful as Enji had hoped. Four years later, Shoto's quirk was the powerful quirk Enji had been waiting for, and from then on he had focused all his time on Shoto, and Natsuo had stopped asking to visit him in the agency, stopped trying to impress Enji by becoming a strong hero himself, and as far as Enji knew, stopped caring about heroes altogether. "We don't have the best relationship," he explained tiredly, as the detectives asked for further explanation. "I don't think he's a particularly big fan of heroes in general. As far as I know, he might have just tried avoiding anything connected to heroes or villains and the like. It wouldn't surprise me if he never looked at a picture of the League of Villains."

Ayasegawa finally nodded and wrote something down.

"So, you think he didn't know that he was actually kidnapped and that his family was looking for him?"

Enji hesitated. "I don't know," he lied. Of course, he knew. Natsuo had set up a fake-kidnapping with the League of Villains, to get at him. To see if Enji would care enough to save him or not. Whether he knew the league or not didn't really change the fact that Natsuo had faked his own kidnapping. Enji couldn't bring himself to say it, though.

"Why did he shut off his phone?"

"I don't know," Enji repeated. "I think he was annoyed that I called and shut it off. Maybe his 'friends'," he spat the word sarcastically, "stole it and he thought he lost it. I don't know. You'll have to ask him."

"He's not very forthcoming with information," informed Sato.

"Then I can't help. I don't know what he was thinking, or how he got there. All I know is that he didn't seem to know the danger he was in. I had no time to ask him, though. I only saw him twice after all and one of those times was only on a TV-screen."

"TV-screen?" they asked.

He explained how Dabi made him enter the house and surrender himself, while he watched Natsuo's release on the monitor.

While Ayasegawa wrote down the new information, Sato frowned in thought. "What about the second time? You said, you met twice?"

For a moment, Enji blinked stupidly. Oh, right, he had said that. "After I surrendered, he came back to where they held me. Toga had already wounded me then, and he was shocked. Then Dabi made Twice drag him out of the room again."

"So, he was in the same room with Himiko Toga?" asked Sato suspiciously.

Enji's eyes widened minutely, as he realized how much he contradicted himself. Maybe the pain-killers made his mind clumsy and loosened his tongue just a bit too much. He didn't answer, though. What was he supposed to say?

"Earlier you said, you didn't know if those two met," Ayasegawa looked down at her notes.

"Well?" asked Sato.

"The painkillers make my brain mushy," he excused himself, "they were in the room together." It was a flimsy excuse for the slip up, he knew. "But only shortly."

"Now, in his own statement Natsuo said he didn't see you at all, but only heard your voice once over the phone." Enji glowered at Ayasegawa as she flipped the pages back to Natsuo's statement. "'I was visiting my girlfriend, Haruka. I shut my phone off, because my father's constant calls were annoying. There was a blonde girl waiting for me at Haruka's house. She knocked me out'," she read. "'Did they keep you in chains?' - 'No, I was locked in a room.' – 'What did they do to suppress your quirk.' – 'I'm not a fighter. I feared they would kill me if I tried to fight back or flee.' – 'Did you see any other members of the League of Villains?'" By now, Enji was sure Ayasegawa skipped some questions and only read those answers that contradicted whatever Enji himself had sad. "'Only one. A blond man with a scar on his face. I didn't know him. Now I know it was Twice.' – 'Did you see your father?' – 'No, I heard him on the phone once, but I never saw him. They let me go shortly after, and I called the police.'"

Natsuo had been lying, Enji realized at once. He couldn't even be mad. He himself was not being entirely honest with the police either. Natsuo was probably terrified about what would happen once everybody found out, that not only had he faked his own kidnapping, but he had even – though unknowingly – worked with the League of Villains.

"So, who's telling the truth?" asked Sato a bit impatiently.

"I might not remember everything," conceded Enji after a moment. He was maybe a bit angry that his son had lied, but he wasn't about to rat him out. It was Natsuo's future that was at stake here. However much he enforced the law in his professional life and would have rather stayed as honest as possible with the police, he just couldn't do it. For him, this whole affair was now a family matter with two of his sons involved. His family and himself had also been the only people that had been hurt by it. As far as he was concerned, he'd rather not have any police or other heroes involved at all and deal with this situation himself. It bugged him, because although not even a few months ago he had wanted to be the #1 Hero just for power alone, to finally surpass All Might, now he wanted to do it right. He wanted to enforce the law, do everything right, bring down the villains and be an example to society as heroes should be. He had wanted to be a symbol of peace, now that All Might couldn't be that anymore. But now, instead, he found himself selfishly lying to the police, because he didn't want to risk two of his sons going to prison for things that could have been prevented if he had only been a better father from jump.

There was no saving Touya from prison, he knew. Dabi was too notorious of a villain to not get sent straight to Tartarus once he was caught. And however much Enji wished there was a different solution for his oldest son, he also knew that he had to be caught. Touya...Dabi was too dangerous to walk free. However, Natsuo had just been a stupid teenager, but with his involvement with the League of Villains and lying to the police the way he did, that could land him in serious trouble. He had promised himself that he would see his family together again, and that he wouldn't let the League stop him. Natsuo was part of this family. Touya, of course, was too, but he feared Touya was too far gone.

"You don't remember correctly?" asked Ayasegawa unbelieving. "Half of what you said is in direct contradiction to what your son told us. That's a bit much to just blame it on general confusion."

Enji snapped at that. "I told you, I don't know how he got to the League! These were all just assumptions. If he tells it differently, then he probably knows it better. And excuse me for not remembering everything that happened while I was tortured!" The outburst had been rather unplanned; he was just angry at the fact that they treated him like a suspect when he clearly had been tortured. They acted as if he had his own son kidnapped and were now trying to use him against his son, or use his son against him. He wasn't sure, yet, if they believed Natsuo's or his version of events

The outburst wasn't planned but it worked in his favor, he found. There was a serious frown on Sato's face and an almost apologetic smile on Ayasegawa's. "Excuse our impudence," Sato apologized. "We simply have to check all angles. I'm sure as a Pro-Hero yourself, you can understand that." He nodded a bit jerkily, because he was still unhappy with the treatment. "It's just that it's uncommon to have such a vague and confusing statement coming from a Pro-Hero of all people," Sato admitted.

Enji had to concede to that. He knew they were just doing their job, and he wasn't exactly being forthcoming either, actually more the opposite as he was willingly withholding information and was now even retracting the bits and pieces of information he had given them. He understood the situation they were in and almost felt sorry for not being more helpful. He was also sure he hadn't cleared their suspicions, but for now he decided it was best to ride out that sympathy wave for the torture victim and use it to change the topic.

"I understand," he relented, "we're trained to remain calm in even the most stressful situations, but even I wasn't really trained for being tortured." He shifted a bit on his bed so that he could feel his own injuries and contorted his face in a sudden wave of pain. "I was hurting, bleeding and light-headed. I thought I remembered Natsuo being there for a moment, but maybe that was just my imagination wanting to see him again. I also didn't think he sounded panicked over the phone," he clarified his earlier statement, "but it was only over the phone."

They nodded, and he was sure they were still a bit suspicious about the discrepancies in their stories, but apparently, they had enough sympathy to move on.

"Can you tell us what happened then? Your torture?" They seemed troubled about the question. "Who tortured you?"

"Shigaraki Tomura mostly. He did the flaying with his quirk." He indicated some of his bandages where the doctors had said the injuries would likely leave scars. "Toga and Dabi where there too, but it was mostly Tomura." He didn't give them many details on what exactly happened, because he didn't feel comfortable talking about it and they thankfully didn't pressure him either. He told them what information the villains had wanted.

"You said, Dabi was supposed to kill you?" asked Sato when he came to that point.

Enji nodded. "Yes."

"Then I assume Dabi is the one who shot you?"

"Yes."

"Your doctors told us those bullet wounds were severe, but not necessarily deadly." Ayasegawa pulled out a medical sheet and handed it to Sato. "According to them, left untreated they would eventually lead to your death, but not immediately."

"I was told the same," said Enji. "I've been shot four times. One hardly scraped my shoulder, the other hit my hip bone. I was hit in the chest once, and then in the back," he reiterated what the doctors had said. "According to them I was very lucky."

"Lucky," repeated Sato thoughtfully. "Yes. Incredibly so. You know that Dabi is known for killing his victims by fire, not with a gun? Any idea why he didn't use fire but decided to shoot you? Not just that, but apparently, he didn't aim very well either, despite the close quarters."

Enji remained quiet for a moment. He could maybe blame it on his quirk. Maybe Dabi had thought he might be immune to fire, at least to a degree, and had thus used a gun instead. Would that be a believable excuse, he wondered. "It was Shigaraki's idea to use the gun," said Enji quietly. He hadn't yet decided if he could tell them about Touya. He had to, he knew, but he needed a little time to prepare himself for that bombshell.

"Why did Shigaraki not use the gun himself?" It was more of a thought spoken out loud than anything else, but of course the question was justified.

"They had promised Dabi he would get the honor of killing me," Enji remembered. Then he added before they could ask: "He's my son."

"He…What?" The revelation was followed by stunned silence. Both detectives were obviously confused and caught off-guard by that new piece of information. Enji could relate, it had shocked him too. He had seen Touya right in front of him and still couldn't believe it.

"He's my son," he repeated. "Dabi…his true birth name is Touya Todoroki."

"Touya Todoroki died six years ago," Ayasegawa said dumbfoundedly, searching in her file for that piece of information. "Here," she finally found it, "died in fire related to his own quirk," she read, "Three witnesses, one was Touya's own classmate. No bo-…"

"You think I don't know that!?" Enji interrupted her with an angry hiss. He didn't want to hear that. Of course, he knew what his son's file said, of course he knew that Touya was supposed to be dead. "But that's wrong. I saw him…I know!" He scowled a bit. "I didn't know before he tried to kill me, but now I'm certain."

"That changes things," mumbled Sato. "Why would Touya want to kidnap his own brother?"

"To get to me, obviously," snapped Enji, a bit short-tempered. What a stupid question!

"And why would he want to kill you, Todoroki-san?" asked Sato patiently.

"Because he hates me." He glowered at the two, then he looked away to the ceiling. "It's not just Natsuo, I don't have the best relationship with any of my children. I didn't think any of them hated me enough to actually try and kill me, but…well, he does, obviously."

"Can you elaborate, why your son would hate you?" they sounded professional, but to him it just sounded like nosy poking.

"I'd rather not," he retorted, scowling at the ceiling.

"Todoroki-san, we're trying to help you, but we need to get the whole picture. And if this could give us some insight on a member of the League of Villains, you as a hero should know how important that information is."

Of course, he knew. But that didn't mean he wanted to share any of his private matters with anybody. If this got out…it would defile Touya's memory, his family, himself. What kind of hero had a son who was a villain? And that was just if the information about Dabi's true identity got out. Never mind what would happen if everybody found out about his family life. It wasn't just him, he told himself, that would suffer from that sort of publicity, but his entire family. However, if he were entirely truthful, if it weren't for his career, he would have probably just told them everything they needed or wanted to know about Dabi.

Being a hero was the only thing he had done in his life that he was actually proud of. He was a good hero. Socially awkward, a bit quick-tempered and not as well-loved as most other heroes, but he was good at the job. Better than in his private life. Enji liked the hero Endeavor more than he had ever liked Enji Todoroki. Out there, despite his grumpy attitude, there were people who actually liked, loved or admired Endeavor. He would lose that, he knew.

That wasn't all there was to it, though. As it was … He was the #1 Hero. He had always wanted to be the #1 for mostly selfish reasons, but now that he was it, it wasn't just himself that would suffer under his disgrace. After his fight with the Nomu, he was seen as some sort of surrogate Symbol of Peace. Not quite All Might, but he had proven himself strong enough to keep Japan safe. He had proven that he would be there when needed and fight for the people's safety. Since then, although it was hardly even two weeks ago, and he had spent most of that time in hospital or recovery, but still, he had witnessed a palpable decline in villain activity. All Might himself had warned that losing Endeavor might be the second bad hit against the hero society, something Japan might not be able to overcome anytime soon. When he had taken that position, he had done it, despite the unwanted way he had achieved it, had even changed as a hero to fill a position All Might left vacant. Even if it wasn't something Endeavor had ever wanted to become – a Symbol of Peace, All Might surrogate – because he had refused to be the #1 under whose watch Japan would crumble. Now, if the truth came out, he might very well be the cause for Japan to crumble.

He didn't answer, just darkly glowered at the ceiling, until one of the detectives sighed and asked a different question. "Do you think Natsuo knew about Dabi being Touya?"

Now, back to Natsuo. He was tired of this interview. But this time, he remembered that Natsuo had said he never met Dabi. "I don't know." He said toward the ceiling.

"How can you not know?"

"I didn't see them interact," he lied.

"You told us earlier, that you saw the two together at one point. You need to cooperate with us."

He gritted his teeth. "Yeah, but that was during the torture. I'm not sure, if that even happened. He might not have known, I don't know."

"But you're at least sure, that Nasuo saw Twice?" Sota asked exasperatedly.

"Yes. Twice was the one who let him go. I saw him on the monitor. He was out of his costume, though."

"Well…" Sato sighed now obviously a bit unhappy with how that interview went. "What about the diary?" he asked then.

"What about it?"

"Do you know why you had to bring it with you?"

"No," he answered toward the ceiling. "Dabi read a few passages from it before he shot me. I don't know if that's all they wanted it for."

"Was Natsuo there, when he read the diary?"

"No," Enji answered at once, angry that they kept coming back to Natsuo, trying to make him slip up and say something either he or Natsuo would regret.

"Then how do you think Dabi or the League knew about the diary and where you could find it?" Ayasegawa still tried to tickle something out of him.

"I don't know. Natsuo probably told his 'girlfriend'," he put more emphasis on the word than strictly necessary. Was it really that surprising that the League might know some things about Natsuo if he had dated Himiko Toga for as long as he did, without realizing who she was? He was aware that they were just trying to make him implicate Natsuo in some way or incriminate himself. They seemed almost certain that either he or Natsuo had some part in this whole thing that they weren't admitting to, and now they were just poking around. He assumed they likely suspected Natsuo more than himself—after all Enji had been the one who almost died—while Natsuo was unhurt from what Fuyumi had told him.

"How did Touya and Natsuo get along with each other?"

"As children?" asked Enji. "Well enough, I think," he wasn't sure because he hadn't spent much time with either. "Most of the time I wasn't there, so you'd have to ask Natsuo or maybe my daughter. But Natsuo was distraught after Touya's supposed death."

"Would Touya have any reason to hurt Natsuo?"

"Not that I know of," admitted Enji.

"Do you think he would have hurt Natsuo, had Natsuo tried to escape or caused trouble, or if you hadn't complied with their demands?"

Enji didn't answer for a moment. Truth be told, he wondered the same. How far would Touya have been willing to go to get to Enji. If Enji hadn't come right away, would he have sacrificed Natsuo for his agenda? Enji didn't want to believe that, but on the other hand…neither he nor Natsuo seemed to expect that Enji would actually come to his son's rescue. And no matter if Touya was willing to hurt Natsuo or not, he was quite certain that the League wouldn't have held back, if they saw a chance to get to Endeavor that way.

"I don't know," he admitted truthfully. "I don't think he wanted to hurt Natsuo. But the other members of the League might have. Maybe he just hoped that I would follow his demands without question."

"But what if Natsuo had resisted?" they asked again.

"I don't know!" he snapped. The question alone gave him headaches. The mere idea of his first born hurting his third born like that was something he didn't want to think about for any period of time. "Do you think your children would do that to each other?" he asked back angrily. "I don't know!"

"Did Dabi not say anything about his brother?"

"He said he didn't want to hurt him. He also …," he cut himself off. He had almost said, that Dabi had told Twice not to hurt Natsuo. But that was when Natsuo had come back to the League. Something he had told the police had only happened in his imagination. He scowled back up at the ceiling.

"He also what?" Sato probed stubbornly.

"He also isn't their leader," he answered quickly. "I don't think he wanted Natsuo to get hurt, but if it came down to it, Shigaraki would have the final decision. I doubt Shigaraki cares about Natsuo. Maybe Touya just hoped Natsuo wouldn't resist. Maybe he knew him well enough to know Natsuo wouldn't fight them." Enji shrugged tiredly. "I think, if it was necessary, he would have probably rather hurt Natsuo, then just let me walk away." It hurt to admit that, but he truthfully thought so.

"Is it possible, that Nats-…"

"STOP ASKING ABOUT HIM!" Enji snapped furiously and this time his quirk activated involuntarily, a single bright hot flame erupting around his eyes where he normally wore the mask, scourging his pillow. "Shit!" he cursed and dowsed the flame immediately. He hurried to pour a glass of water over the pillow to keep the fire from spreading. The sudden movement made him hiss and writhe in pain. The painkillers did their best to keep his aches to a minimum, but whenever he moved it still hurt. "Sorry," he muttered, embarrassed and angry that he had lost control like that.

"It's alright," soothed Ayasegawa. Both of them seemed to accept his apology, but they looked shocked by his outburst. They also appeared a bit afraid, which made Enji feel even worse about this incident, but at least that might stop them from asking anything else about Natsuo or Touya.

Before they could say anything else, the door suddenly burst open and Fuyumi and Shoto stumbled inside.

"What happened?" asked Fuyumi in shock. "Is everything okay?"

"We heard you screaming," Shoto clarified, looking at his father, then at the two police officers. Finally, his eyes zeroed in on the scorched pillow.

"Dad…" that was Fuyumi in a now calmer but clearly exasperated voice. "You burned the pillow!"

Enji couldn't help but smile at her stating the obvious with that disappointed look on her face as if she were scolding one of her pupils for losing control over his quirk.

"I already apologized," Enji answered dismissively. "Is there anything else, detectives?"

They looked at each other, then Ayasegawa looked down at her notebook and cleared her throat. "So, you remember when the police arrived?"

Enji nodded, thankful that the question had nothing to do with Natsuo or Touya. "Yes. The last two bullets hit me, when Dabi heard them." He heard Fuyumi make a sound that was somewhere between shock and sympathy. She had such a soft heart. Shoto just scowled a bit darker than before. It was the first time, he realized, that he admitted that he had been conscious the entire time.

Ayasegawa noted it down in her notebook, then she looked up at Sato. Sato nodded shortly, then he rubbed his grey beard and finally asked Enji if there was anything else he remembered.

"No," Enji answered, glad that the interview was over. "I think, I need some rest now." He felt tired. Then he grunted in annoyance. "And a new pillow."

* * *

So, Endeavor is talking to the police! And all the stuff he doesn't want them to know.

How do you think they (the police and Shoto and Fuyumi) would react to Natsuo's part in this whole incident. What would Natsuo have to expect if it came out? What would happen if the people found out about Dabi being Enji's son? So many things still unquestioned.

I hope you liked it so far and maybe you have something specific looking forwart too in the near future?


	11. Dropping More than One Bombshell

First things first. Sorry for not updating sunday, I was away for the whole weekend. I'll also be away for next weekend, so I decided to post an 'mid of the week chapter' as reconciliation. This chapter was originally seperated in two parts, but then the first part was a bit too short so I decided to just put it in one big chapter. So this is a longer chapter. Maybe that will make up for there not being another chapter this sunday. I plan to upload the next chapter only the sunday after that.

Speaking of this chapter, I really liked writing it, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

* * *

 **Dropping more than one Bombshell**

"I'll tell the nurse," Fuyumi said quickly and was about to leave the room.

"Actually Fuyumi-san, could you stay for a moment. We would like to ask you about your brother."

Fuyumi halted in her movement and turned around. Damn, Enji thought, they'd ask her about Touya. He didn't even tell his children yet, and he didn't want them to find out that way.

"What is it?" asked Fuyumi obliviously. "I thought I answered all your questions already."

"Wait," demanded Enji, before the detectives could ask their question. "Please, wait. I haven't told them, yet."

"Told us what?" asked Shoto from the door. He had been about to leave for the nurse, after Fuyumi had been called back. "What is it?"

"I'll tell you later," Enji promised, as he glanced at the police officers. "Just … come back tomorrow." He knew they probably wouldn't risk him or Natsuo using the time to tell Fuyumi what kind of story she should reiterate to the police, so he almost expected it when they looked at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Todoroki-san. We'll be careful," said Sato seriously.

"Yes, you can tell me," Fuyumi hurried to say. "Whatever it is, we want to help." She looked at Shoto, who nodded, then back at the detectives in front of her.

"It's just a single question really. Can you tell us how well Natsuo got along with Touya?"

That was obviously a question Fuyumi hadn't been expecting. Her jaw went slack, and it was Shoto who caught himself before her. "Touya?" he asked. "What does he have to do with anything? He's been dead for … what, six years now?" He seemed utterly confused as he looked over to Fuyumi. "But I think they got along well enough … Sis?"

"Yeah," Fuyumi finally managed to say. "Yes, sure, they were pretty close. Touya was just over four years older, so they had their own circle of friends, but when they were home, they always played together. Natsu really liked Touya, admired him even, I think. They always pulled pranks on me, when they were younger," she remembered with a fond smile. "Touya died only a few weeks before Natsu's thirteenth birthday." She looked sadly down to her feet. "I think it hit him the hardest of us."

After she had finished her explanation, she looked up to the police again. There were tears in the corner of her eyes, but they didn't spill quite yet. "Why do you ask? Touya's been dead for six years, what does this have to do with anything?"

"So, that relationship was mutual? Touya liked his brother, too?" Sato asked without answering any of her questions. Enji just stared at the ground in front of his bed. At this point, there was really no scenario in which he could avoid telling them the truth. In fact, he should probably tell them right now. The police wouldn't explain it, he realized that much. They asked their questions, but they would leave him with the burden of actually having to explain it all. He didn't know if he was grateful for that, or if he hated them for it.

Fuyumi seemed even more confused at the second question. "No … No, it was mutual," she answered after a moment. "Touya was the oldest of us, he liked us all, I think. He was always there for Natsu, for all of us." She hesitated, "that was why when the police and Dad told us he had killed himself, we never believed it. I thought maybe it was an accident, but I couldn't believe that he would just leave us like that."

Sato and Ayasegawa both nodded. "Thank you. You too, Todoroki-san," they said back to Enji who just nodded silently hardly even looking at them. "We'll leave you to rest, now," Sato smiled friendlily, "Get well soon."

"Thanks," Enji muttered tiredly without really looking at them.

Only when they left did his children gang up on him. Instead of bringing the pillow, and maybe giving him a second to catch himself, they came straight to the point.

"What was that about?" asked Fuyumi with a raised eyebrow.

"What does Touya have to do with anything?" Shoto seemed more suspicious than Fuyumi.

"He's been dead for so long," added Fuyumi, "I don't get how these questions would help in catching the villains."

"He hasn't been," answered Enji after a moment.

"What?" both of them didn't quite get it yet. Of course not.

"Touya," he hesitated, then he sighed and told them straight away, "he's still alive."

"What?" the same question they had asked before, but this time it was filled with disbelief, sudden tears and a mixture of anger and joy. "What are you talking about? That's impossible, you know it is."

"Apparently," Enji started to explain over their loud questions, "he lost control over his quirk six years ago. He got hurt and needed some time to recover. By the time he wanted to come back …," he shrugged helplessly. "Well, we all already thought he was dead and … I don't know." He really didn't. Dabi had explained himself … at least to a degree, but Enji still didn't really understand.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Fuyumi sounded angry now. "Tell me! I told you, he couldn't be dead, he wouldn't kill himself. I told you!" She was screaming at him now, words filled with anger. He couldn't remember her ever being this angry with him before, probably never. "But you kept saying he killed himself! I told you he wouldn't! But you…!"

She quieted when Shoto put a hand around her shoulders. He seemed oddly subdued, but neither angry nor properly sad. He looked confused though. "I don't understand," said Shoto over Fuyumi's sobs. "How can he be alive? And how do you know?"

"Touya is …" How could he best tell them? Again, he decided to just do it the most direct and quick way he could. Like ripping off a bandaid. "He's a member of the League of Villains."

There was a moment of shocked silence, then Fuyumi chuckled hysterically in her sobs. "What? Don't be ridiculous. You're joking, what is this? A stupid, cruel joke! Do you think this is funny?"

To Enji's surprise, as his gaze locked with Shoto's momentarily, he saw understanding in Shoto's eyes. Sure, there was shock and denial, but also some dark and hurtful understanding. "Dabi?" he whispered and only now did Enji remember that Shoto had once met Dabi as well.

Enji nodded.

"Dabi?" repeated Fuyumi hysterically. "What do you mean? You …," she glared at Shoto, "you believe him?! That's ridiculous! Touya would never…!" she furiously rubbed at her tear-filled eyes. "He'd never be a villain. He wouldn't do that. How can you even say that?"

"I saw him," Shoto answered in a husky voice. "I saw him!" His eyes were wet with tears now too. "But I didn't … I didn't recognize him."

"Because it's not him!" Fuyumi bellowed. "It can't be him!" She stared angrily at Enji. "Stop telling these stupid lies. What is it?" She was so furious, it left Enji stunned into silence. He had expected denial, tears, shock that her brother was a villain, joy that he was still alive … not that she'd turn all that into anger and throw it back in his face. "I don't get it!" she screamed at him. "After everything, I really thought you changed. But what, you couldn't wait for Natsu and Shoto to forgive you so now you have to come up with this stupid lie where it's our brother who TRIED TO MURDER YOU?" She shook her head and angrily pushed away from Shoto. "I don't believe it. That's ridiculous!"

"Fuyumi!" Shoto shouted, before she could leave the room in her fury. "Wait! It's …"

"I can't believe you actually believe him!" Fuyumi snapped at Shoto. "You don't really think Touya would … How can you even think that!?"

"It's complicated," Shoto responded pleadingly, but before he could explain, she'd turned around and left the room. The door fell shut with a bang that made Enji flinch. As angry as she was, even Shoto didn't dare to follow after her, instead he sank down on one of the two chairs in the room.

"So, you believe me?" asked Enji, because he really had to make sure. He hadn't expected Fuyumi's reaction. Now that he thought about it, though, he could understand it. He had expected her to have trouble believing him, that her brother was alive and a villain now. If she couldn't believe that her brother would ever do any of the crimes Dabi was known for, that he would even go so far as to try and kill his own father not once, but twice … if she couldn't believe that, then the only explanation was that Enji must have lied, that he came up with some horrible story, for whatever purpose. He had no reason to lie, not about that, but perhaps from her point of view it was easier thinking her father was an asshole who made up horrible lies to gain some sympathy, than for her brother to be a villain, an arson and a killer.

"I saw him…" Shoto answered tiredly. "He … I didn't recognize him, but he seemed familiar, and he knew me. I didn't get it then…now I do." He buried his face in his hands.

"I'm sorry." It was more an expression of sympathy rather than an admission of guilt. Truthfully, he was not sure if this was his fault, or only partly on him, or maybe entirely on Touya alone.

"It's not…" Shoto started, but then he interrupted himself with a quiet sob. He didn't finish the sentence. "He'd been alive all this time?" he finally spoke up, again, after another moment. "I don't … I don't understand. Why did he not come back?"

"Because of me," Enji answered, because that much at least he had understood. Whatever decisions Touya had made after his supposed death were, maybe, partly or entirely because of him. That Touya had decided not to go back home-that had been Enji's fault. Not partly, not maybe… Entirely his fault.

Because … how had Dabi said it? Because Enji couldn't stop telling everybody and their mother about how his son had committed suicide, to the point where Touya actually thought Enji was even grateful to be rid of him. Apparently, Fuyumi, to a degree, had gotten the same impression, that he couldn't shut up about his son's suicide when her and Natsuo were certain it must have been an accident. It hadn't been his assessment that Touya had committed suicide. The police had concluded that. Apparently, something about fail-safes in the human body that prevented them from using their quirk to a degree that it would kill them by accident. Enji had understood that reasoning.

Between all of them, Enji's quirk had been the most similar to Touya's. And while Enji didn't entirely disregard the possibility that he could maybe burn himself to death with it, that wasn't anything that could just happen by accident. There was a point of overheat in his body, when his body slowly started failing him. Fiirst, his movements slowed down, then he got fever symptoms, headaches, trouble breathing, until there was a point when his body got so hot, that his organs would fail him completely. He normally would not burn his skin, that being the one organ in his entire body most resistant to his own fire, but even that was theoretically possible. In a fight, though, he had to push himself really hard to even get to the point of organ-failure. So hard even that this hadn't happen since he was twenty-two years old and not quite so reckless anymore.

Surely it wasn't something that just happened on accident.

In a moment of severe emotional turmoil … maybe, he could see that, but even then … Touya's flames were naturally hotter than Enji's own and his body always was of a weaker constitution. On the other hand, though, the police had told them that they hadn't been able to find a body, just ashes, and from what the witnesses had told them, it definitely had been his quirk that did that. This wasn't just an organ failure, but an incineration.

While Enji thought his quirk at least theoretically could kill him, he never thought he'd be able to incinerate himself to that point, even if he tried. Touya, with hotter flames and a weaker constitution … was maybe able to do it, but not by accident. Of that both he and the police investigators had been sure. So, he had accepted the explanation of suicide. And, of course, he had told his children and wife that it was suicide. And when they refused to believe it, when they kept insisting that Touya wouldn't and hadn't killed himself, he just thought Natsuo and Fuyumi were in denial and paid their stubborn comments that it must have been an accident no mind.

"I…" Shoto suddenly stood up, after silently crying for a few minutes. His eyes were still red and teary, but he stubbornly bit his lip, obviously trying to quench the tears. "Give me that pillow. I'll tell the nurse to bring a new one…" he looked around the room a bit forlornly, "then I need to … be alone for a while."

Enji understood that need. He also had to rest. But when Shoto left the room, for a moment Enji feared he might not ever come back, and that was it. He'd lost them all. His wife couldn't look at him without breaking down. His eldest child had tried to kill him. His only daughter thought him a cruel liar. His second son faked his kidnapping, because he couldn't believe his father would love him enough to care and then didn't visit him in the hospital, and his youngest son … hated him too, he knew. Shoto had offered him a chance, back after his fight with the Nomu, if Enji managed to prove himself and change. But even Shoto, if he had to choose between his siblings and his father, would surely choose his siblings. They all had their reasons, of course. He'd screwed up royally, and that was an understatement. But he had thought it could get better in time. Now, instead, everything was falling apart.

Despite his distraught state of mind, he was so exhausted after the long interview that he fell asleep only shortly after the nurse brought his new pillow. He was tired enough, he could probably sleep the rest of the day and the night, but instead he woke up again in the evening.

For a moment he thought he had awoken from a nightmare he didn't remember, then he heard voices outside.

"Yeah but is there nothing we can do?" asked a voice he knew well. "No, I mean … Yes, I'm aware." His secretary Inari was quickly coming closer to Endeavor's room. "What about … do we have a case? Can we take it down? Sue them?" He was talking over the phone, Enji realized, just before the door was pushed open and Inari entered, phone in one hand, door-handle in the other, too distracted to immediately realize that his boss was awake. "Public Relations, sure, that would be bad. But…" There was a short break. Enji only heard quiet and unintelligible muttering from the phone's speakers. "Yes, but it could be even worse if we just let them spread all these rumors." The man looked up distractedly. "You know as well as me that the League is behind it. This could spell bad…" Only now did he realize that Enji was awake and staring at him. "Oh, Nakamura-san, can I call you back later? He's awake." He nodded shortly to something said on the other end. "Yes, I'll tell him. Goodnight."

He finally looked up at Enji. "Nakamura-san wishes you a swift recovery," he greeted Enji as he put the phone away. "How are you?"

Enji decided to ignore the question. "Have we been sued again?" he asked instead. Nakamura was his agency's own layer. It wasn't like every hero agency had one but Endeavor always wondered how the bigger agencies could even function without them. "What is it this time? I haven't ruined much since that Nomu-fight, and I can't imagine…" He rubbed his chin trying to remember.

It wasn't rare that his agency – or any agency for that matter – was sued for damages caused in some battle or another. A case often didn't end with the villain's defeat and apprehension. Many civilians suffered losses, be that actual loss of life or lost and destroyed property or injuries in the battle. Not everybody could afford insurance against villain attacks and even then, the insurers themselves were often not happy to just pay but looked for somebody else to pay them back. As the villains were often poor fools with no money or wealth, there was nothing to gain from them. However, heroes often made a lot of money through their work, so many people and especially insurers tried blaming the heroes themselves, the agencies, or the Hero Association for their losses. That was especially the case when somebody lost property who wasn't also saved by the heroes' actions. Most were at least thankful enough to not sue the people who had saved their or their family's asses. But often enough somebody's property got destroyed in an attempt to save someone else entirely. The government had funds dedicated to paying these damages, but those funds were limited, and the government had certain guidelines as to who or what damages qualified for them. That often left only the heroes as possible scapegoats. Most of these lawsuits weren't successful in court, but there were certain cases when a hero acted at least negligently, causing excessive and unnecessary damages. There were some odd fifty claims each year against the Endeavor Hero Agency or Endeavor personally. Most of these claims were unfounded and for those that were, he had his lawyer, Nakamura.

"We haven't been sued," answered Inari after a moment.

The answer was surprising to Enji. Although he didn't know why they would have been sued, from what he had overheard of the phone call that had been his logical conclusion. "But that was Nakamura, wasn't it?" he asked a bit confused.

"Yes," answered Inari, then he looked at Enji quizzically. "You don't know, yet?" he asked finally.

"Know what?"

"Haven't you watched any of the news these days?" asked Inari and went to the TV in the room.

Enji shook his head. For the most part he'd been asleep for too long to even just care enough to turn on the TV. After everything that had happened it had also felt good to be away from it all for a while. He sat up in his bed as Inari went to pick up the remote control for the TV. Now, he was curious as Inari turned the TV on and then skipped some channels until he found what he was looking for.

"As our legal expert," an anchorwoman with wavy black hair asked an elderly man, "how serious are these claims?"

"From what little we have it's hard to say. We're still going through these descriptions, but they are very vague at best. It's difficult to say what exactly happened. Without any more proof, I don't think we have much here." He made a dramatic pause. "But if the police can find more proof, we are talking about serious repercussions. Losing his hero license would be the least of those."

Enji frowned curiously. What was the man talking about? On screen there were four people. The anchorwoman, the legal expert, another man he recognized as an expert for Hero Politics on this channel and a middle-aged woman he didn't know.

"Shouldn't we also talk about jail time?" asked the middle-aged woman now. "If the police can find proof – and these claims are at least enough to start an investigation in my experience – just losing his hero license … I don't think that would send the right message. We might live in a world of hero-worship, but even they can't get away with everything."

"You are as always quick to assume guilt," retorted the hero-expert. "For one, we don't even know if these claims are justified. We don't know if they are real to begin with. For all we know, this could just be a bad joke by a hater. And even if…"

He was cut off by the anchorwoman. "That is a good point, Tanaka-san. After his fight against this Nomu-creature last week, Endeavor has seen a great surge in popularity," they showed some short footage of his battle with the Nomu while she spoke. "Isn't this timing a bit odd?"

So now, he knew for a fact that they were talking about him. Of course, he had suspected it from Inari's behavior. But he still didn't know what exactly this was about.

"Indeed," answered Tanaka, "the timing is odd. We shouldn't forget that Endeavor was never one of the more popular heroes out there. His recent surge in popularity after that incident shouldn't lead us to overlook that there are still many people out there who hate him with a passion. This might just be an attempt to hem this surge of popularity. Anyway, what I wanted to say earlier…"

Again, he was interrupted, this time by the middle-aged woman. "Oh, that's just great. Dismissing serious claims on…"

"I was not dismissing these claims, merely pointing out what we shouldn't forget in this debate," cut Tanaka in.

"Yes, you pointed out, Endeavor had many enemies. There is a good reason for this: He is one of the worst-tempered and ill-behaving heroes of our times. If there was a hero out there that proved Stain's ideology…"

"Now, let's not argue with the ideology of a maniac murderer," interrupted the legal-expert. "I have to say, that Tanaka-san is right, and we can't just dismiss the chance of this being a fake. However, I am with Namasu-san, that these claims should be investigated."

"There is surely reason to assume at least parts of them hold true," agreed the anchorwoman as first a picture of Shoto, then one of Rei and lastly one of a young Touya appeared on screen. "We have information that things aren't as nice as Endeavor might want us to believe in his family household. Ten years ago, his son had a ghastly accident at home, leaving him badly scarred. We haven't yet found out the truth behind this incident. Endeavor's wife Rei has been in a mental institution for years, and most strikingly, his oldest child Touya Todoroki committed suicide six years ago. Namasu-san, as our expert on domestic abuse, what possible psychological repercussions could Endeavor's behavior have had on his family members, from your experience?"

"What is this?" Enji finally asked, hot flames surging for just a moment. The question was infuriating. Even more so, that they dared to disclose private information about his family members to the public. There was a reason most heroes went by hero-names, and that was precisely not to drag them and their families out into the public more than necessary. With this day and age of social media and the internet, it wasn't hard to find the names and addresses of his children, if one actually looked for them, but to have his family names and pictures just given out to everybody on a public news channel was very uncommon.

Inari muted the TV and put the remote down on Enji's bedside table. "It's all over the news," he explained. "Apparently last night somebody sent copies of what they claim to be Natsuo's old diary to every major news-outlet in the country." Enji stared at him in shock. Of course, part of him had already had the suspicion that they somehow got some information on his private-life, but this was worse than he had feared. "Channel three brought the story first in yesterday's late-night news circle. Since this morning it's everywhere." Inari waited for a reaction, but when nothing came apart from the flickering of his flames, his secretary moved on. "They don't even know if it's authentic," he explained almost soothingly. "Natsuo hasn't made a statement yet, neither have your other children, so don't worry … I wanted to ask Nakamura…"

"It is," Enji sighed after a moment quenching his flames. "Authentic, I mean" He glanced up at Inari exchanging a silent stare-down, then Inari finally sighed.

"I feared as much. We still have to take it down." His face scrunched in worry. "You know what this could do to the agency."

"Forcefully shutting it down would be even worse," Enji answered. The idea that this was maybe only the beginning and soon everything would be out in the open made him feel more tired than he already was. He was sick of it. They should just leave him alone, all of them. Not put their noses in his private life. Yet, he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Yah," exhaled Inari tiredly, "Nakamura said something similar. Apart from that, we apparently have no legal grounds to take it down. Freedom of press and … well, you being the #1 Hero and a public figure, there's apparently a certain public interest that outweighs your own rights for privacy." He shrugged, not going further into the legal explanations. "Maybe if we could bring Natsuo to sue, that might work out. Whatever else, they can't just plaster his private diary all over the news. But…" he shrugged again, "I can't really reach him."

For a moment Enji looked up in worry.

"Don't worry," added Inari quickly. "He's there. Makes sure just about everybody knows he's alive, but then he ends the call after an initial 'hello'. Don't know if it's just me or people he doesn't know or if he's the same to his family."

Enji nodded, finally understanding. He looked back to the TV-screen. The people there were still talking. There were pictures of him in the background. It was of course muted, so he couldn't hear what they were saying, but he was almost glad for it.

"So, it's true?" Inari finally asked. "You said the diary is real?"

"They made me bring it from the house," explained Enji, deciding it would be best to be completely honest with a few people at least. Inari had worked closely with him for eleven years, so he guessed if he couldn't trust him, he couldn't trust anybody. "I guess, the League sent it to the news after they failed to kill me."

"Figures," muttered Inari. "I assumed it had to have been the League of Villains. Maybe we could use that…" he started.

"What?" interrupted Enji. "Tell them it's a scheme by the League and thus all lies. It's not lies, though." He didn't know how to handle this situation. He knew this couldn't bode well, and he'd rather not have journalists searching his history for more dirt to use against him until everything was out, and then some. He knew how these things worked. As much as the public loved their heroes, they also loved criticizing them. And they loved a good scandal. That woman Namasu wasn't an exception. If they could just get enough dirt on him, they'd twist it in a way to make him look even worse than he was, until even he didn't know what was true anymore, and then they'd use him to discredit hero society as a whole. But just because he knew that, didn't mean he could prevent it. Was there even anything he could do? Apart from that … was there a better way to lose his family once and for all, than denying everything that happened, lying in the faces of everybody and making them hide their own suffering just for his sake? If they decided to go public, he was screwed anyway.

"So, it's true," Inari huffed again surprisingly angry. "Doesn't mean we should just accept it, that they drag the agency through the mud."

Enji scrutinized him. He had not really expected that sort of reaction. Denial maybe, anger against him … but Inari didn't seem the kind of person to be just okay with his boss abusing his family. That was the sort of truth, Enji had guessed, that could break their work relationship even after all those years.

Inari glared back at him challengingly. Finally, Enji sighed. "You want me to hide the truth? I didn't think you would ju…"

"What? You think I'm not angry," bellowed Inari. "You think I'm happy with this?" He gestured toward the screen and Enji realized the man had been holding back his anger for a while now, just waiting for the right moment to explode in his face. "I have kids of my own, you know? Makes me sick to think how you treated yours, even if only half of what they say is true!"

Enji glanced at the TV where they were currently showing some statistics from recent years regarding domestic abuse. He didn't of course know what kinds of stories the news told. He didn't doubt that soon people would come crawling from all kinds of places to tell outrageous and absurd stories about the things he might or might not have done. But at this point in time, the story was rather fresh, so he assumed most of what they told currently was probably directly from the diary, plus some educated guesses. From what Touya had read to him, Natsuo's diary wasn't very detailed in its descriptions and the time it covered was after both the incident with Rei and Touya's supposed death, so the assumptions they could draw directly from these pages would likely not even come close to the worst things he had done to his family. It would probably still get much, much worse … and right when he had been trying to be better.

It felt so unfair.

"Then why are you even here?" asked Enji a bit provokingly. "You could just quit." Most of his anger wasn't directed at Inari but it needed an outlet anyway.

"Quit?" asked Inari outraged. "I put eleven years of my life into this agency. Believe me if I could I would quit. But I'm fifty-three. How high do you think my chances are of finding a new job?" Enji evaded his glare suddenly embarrassed that he had voiced his suggestion. "Huh? Unlike you I don't have the money to just retire!"

"Sorry," muttered Enji, only semi-honestly. He did regret his angry advice, but he also felt more pity towards himself to truly be sorry.

"Stop it!" bellowed Inari. "Stop it with this disgusting self-pity! Get your ass up and tell me how you're going to save the agency!" The secretary had his fists balled in anger. "It's not just your job on the line here. If you lose your license – and believe me there are enough people out there who want to take it away from you! If you lose your license we can be shut down." Enji didn't look at him. Only stared down at his hands in his lap. "Then I can go back to my wife and my three girls and explain to them why I can't afford their education anymore because their father wasted eleven years of his life working for a…" he seemed to search for the right insult to throw at his boss, "a… you!"

Enji flinched-despite or maybe because of-the glaring lack of insult. "Get out…" he growled, but although he wanted to scream and throw him out, he hardly even managed to pronounce the words.

"What?" Inari asked, simultaneously angry and confused about his boss' untypical weakness.

"Get out!" Enji said again, this time more decisively. "Leave!"

"Oh sure," Inari agreed. But instead of going, he plucked up the remote from the bedside table and unmuted the TV again. "I'm happy to leave. Next time I come to ask you how to solve this situation, you get your head out of your ass and present me with something." With those words he put the remote down on the little shelve the TV sat on and left the room with banging doors.

Enji glowered at the door after he had left. He felt angry and hot inside and he only now realized that his flames were surging again. He dowsed them forcibly before they could activate the hospital's fire alarms or ignite the furniture and bedding again. Only then did the conversation from the TV finally filter through to him.

"…statement. The staff of UA blocked our inquiry. Fifteen-year-old Shoto now lives in the dorms on the school grounds where access is denied to our reporters. Our viewer Hinamori commented: 'It's typical of UA. These heroes keep protecting each other. Endeavor was one of their own esteemed alumni. So of course, they don't want this poor kid to go to the public with his story.' Tanaka-san, is there a culture of silence in the hero society?"

"It's of course understandable, that from the outside it must look like this," relented Tanaka. He looked a bit exhausted and annoyed from what was probably a question he had answered several times already with different phrasing. It had already started, Enji realized. His transgressions were already reflecting badly on the entire hero society. "But Endeavor's actions outside of his hero work are entirely his own. Believe me, the Hero Association has as much interest as anybody in getting to the truth of these claims and bringing just consequences. We talked about that." He nodded shortly as he realized the other people in this debate got a bit impatient. "For UA, the students' well-being is their highest priority, of course. I am sure if they deny journalists passage on school-grounds or block them from contacting Shoto Todorok directly, they do so to protect their student, not Endeavor. If Shoto-kun wants to talk to the police or the news, UA is always willing to support him in his decisions and actions."

"What do you say to that?" the anchor-woman asked the other two guests.

"Well, this is without question. As a school their student's well-being should be their highest priority. And I think we all have to agree that fervent prodding by the media, with journalists, fans and onlookers camping outside the school … It's not the healthiest way to deal with a possibly traumatic past," relented Namasu with a bit of a sour expression on her face. It was clear to Endeavor that she was not the biggest fan of hero society. Some of her earlier comments had made that obvious, but even she seemed to for once agree with the representative of Japan's Hero Association.

"I have to agree as well," nodded the legal expert. "The same goes for these masses camping outside his daughter's workplace and the older son's university." Enji stared in shock as they showed a short footage of Natsuo pushing through a crowd of reporters to get out of his dormitory. He had a scarf to obscure his face. The sight itself made Enji boil with rage. How dare they… "This is surely not the best way to get to the truth of things."

It was quite clear that all three guests on screen were unhappy about how the media dealt with the situation. Maybe the anchorwoman did feel a bit guilty about just being one more media-person to make a show out of other people's family drama. Yet she tried to defend her colleagues. "Don't you agree that there is a certain interest of the public to get to the truth of the matter? What reasons could Endeavor's kids have not to go to the public, now that the public opinion is so clearly in their favor?" She glanced at her guests. "Is there, maybe, some fear involved?"

"That's certainly one possibility," answered Namasu darkly, but then she had to relent. "No, while this is possible, there can be all kinds of reasons why victims of domestic abuse don't want to go to the public. Fear is certainly one of them, but surely not the only one. Apart from the more personal reasons like shame or personal dependence on the abuser … or even guilt, it could also be politically motivated in this case. Their father is a well-known hero. Outing him publicly could have repercussions on our society as a whole."

"As it already has," Tanaka pointed out darkly, though he didn't elaborate.

"Whatever reasons there may be, we, the public, should not try to pressure them to make their statement if they don't want to. They have surely suffered enough," declared the legal-expert. "Instead I would implore Endeavor himself to step forward and tell us the truth about these claims."

The anchorwoman nodded her agreement. "The hunt for a statement by Endeavor himself has already begun, of course," she explained. "However, as you surely know, he has been hospitalized after the incident this weekend and his current location is undisclosed."

"It is preposterous that somebody who abuses his wife and children can then hide behind protocols of the Hero Association while his children are terrorized by the public," grunted Namasu.

"Please, Namasu-san," retorted Tanaka. "You know as well as I do, that the secretiveness around Endeavor's current location is not to hide him away from the media, but to protect him from attacks by villains for as long as he is still in recovery. Not giving the place of recovery of our heroes to the public is standard protocol in the Hero Association. In this debate we should not forget that he is a hero and…"

"Does him being a hero put him above the law, now?" asked Namasu venomously. "How many people do I have to save before I can abuse my family without consequences?"

"That is not what I meant to say," Tanaka defended himself exasperatedly. "If you would let me finish, Namasu-san…" He glared at her.

"Well, go on then."

"Thanks. As a hero," he pronounced the word as he looked at the middle-aged woman, "disclosing his location to the public could put him in harm's way … not because of this situation with his family, but because there are villains out there who would gladly take this chance to off a strong hero. This secrecy is for his personal protection and highly necessary."

"But it's without question, that this secrecy now also protects him from these accusations, does it not?" asked the anchorwoman.

"Of course, that's just how it is," relented Tanaka. "We have to wait until his recovery progresses before we can demand a statement of Endeavor personally in this situation. However, the police do know his whereabouts. So, if they are investigating, they can always ask him about these claims."

Suddenly Endeavor realized why the detectives had been as wary of him earlier. He wondered, however, why his children hadn't told him about the situation.

He wanted to turn the TV off, as they started talking about the actual claims from the diary, but the remote was at the other end of the room now, where he couldn't easily reach. Standing up hurt like a bitch, especially in his hip that hadn't completely healed from the bullet wound there. He almost collapsed to the ground the moment he put his weight on his feet, so he sank back onto the mattress.

Instead of switching off the TV, he lay back down and turned his back to the screen, trying to ignore the conversation that filtered over his head into his ears.

"… neglecting his elder two children. He did not seem to care what they were doing in their private time, was hardly there for them, never mind cared about them. It seems they learned to take care of themselves from an early age, because of the absence of both their parents. He restricted contact to their mother which …"

He fell asleep to Namasu's words.

* * *

So, how did you like it?

I decided not to beat around the bush and just put it all in the open right now. One thing, that hasn't come up yet is Natsuo's involvement, because Fuyumi ran out on Enji before he even could mention it. Do you think Fuyumi's reaction is believable?

This was really the point where I started regretting a bit that I chose Enji's PoV for this story. I think it's good for the drama, that he just sits there and has to fret over what his children would think or do and you as reader (and me as writer^^) don't really know what they ACTUALLY do and think. So, I don't REALLY regret it. But I'm kinda sad I know can't write how Fuyumi and Shoto handle the situation. Then again, I get always very nervous and unsecure just thinking about writing Shoto. So... I even thought about writing a Shoto-perspective OneShot, but probably not? Tell me if you're interested in it. If there's some demand for it, I would try, I guess :D.

The Abuse being at least semi-public now (as they still don't know what happened exactly, but they know it's bad) was ultimately unavoidable in this story, but it also put me in the situation that I had to think about stuff, I really didn't even consider when I first started writing his. Like legal repercussions, what kinds of protocolls does the Association have for similar cases? Popularity and changes in public opinion and how that would affect not just Endeavor but all of japan. How does journalistic investigation even work? Or how would japan handle first losing All Might and then having this happen with Endeavor. I mean, I knew some of these issues would be important, but I really feel I opend a can of worms here. I hope I can tie most of these thing up by the end of the story as neat as possible, but it's a lot. I'm also just guessing a lot about investigative journalism, paparazzi and legal stuff. I mean I know a bit about law in germany and could probably inform myself about law in the US, but I have no clue about Japan. So I hope you forgive me if I'm just improvising here.

Also. i just wanted to use this opportunity to thank some of my reviewers. When I first started writing this story and uploaded my first chapter I didn't know how it would do. Really, I was quite nervous. It's an Endeavor story, and while I love the character and I know there are many who think the same, going through other Fanfic's on the internet I got the feeling that at least unter Fanfic-writers Endeavor is still more seen as just the abusive dickhead, with only few 'endeavor redemption' stories coming through. The lack of it was actually one of the reasons I started writing this in the first place (though there are more and more of them recently). I just feared that people would hate it... I'm insecure like that. So, now I've uploaded my 11th Chapter and not only have I not received a single negative Review, it's I think my best-received story yet, not just here but also on A03 where I cross-upload (is that what it's called?). I'm not really used to getting more than one or two reviews on a story. So that's awesome.

Here on FFNet I want to especially think patrickthenobleman, fencer29 and (Thomas the Tank Engine) BlackDragon829.

I also want to thank my Beta **The Kindly One** for putting all that work in. You're faster with correcting than I am with writing!


	12. Remember

**A/N** : Important little Info: I now started another Fic called 'I'm Watching!' It will be the new home for all extra chapters to this story that are written from somebody else's perspective. Don't expect too much I don't have a big plan for it, but I hope to get at least some chapters uploaded over there. If you have suggestions for chapters you'd like to read, tell me, and I see what I can do.

I just uploaded this new fic, so if you can't find it yet, don't fret, it should be available in a few short hours. I'm not sure how well FFNet works with posting links, but if this: ( s/13319381/1/I-m-Watching ) doesn't work, you should be able to at least find the story in my Profile.

* * *

Remember

"There is clear evidence of neglect in these lines," a young man declared waving with some pages of the diary. "We have a thirteen-year-old boy here, mourning the death of his brother, being cut off from any contact with his mother. Of course, he would go off the rails."

Enji stared silently up at the ceiling. The TV ran the entire day. He had fallen asleep to it, had woken up to it, the doctors had visited him while the debates on screen were still going on. Enji had given up trying to walk over to the remote and turn it off: he also hadn't asked the nurses or doctors to do it for him. He hated every word they spoke, yet after his initial denial and refusal to listen to anything the ever-changing group of people on screen were saying, he now felt like he had to keep it on. He didn't know why. Maybe, it was some sort of self-imposed punishment. Maybe he hoped to get some advice out of it or some sort of epiphany that would tell him how to proceed. He hadn't so far. Instead, he blankly listened to the accusations, staring at the ceiling, his thoughts going in circles just like the debates on screen.

Again and again, they were saying the same stuff. The ongoing debates about him were cut off every now and then for some other news or the weather reports, but it was clear that Endeavor and his family were the hottest topic today and probably for the rest of the week unless there was maybe another Nomu attack. Enji was getting desperate, he realized with a frown, as he silently wished for that attack. He could get himself half-killed again on national television, that had done wonders for his reputation the last time. Of course, he was currently not in the physical state for any such fight. Unlike after his last battle with the Nomu when Recovery Girl had visited and helped him with his swift recovery, now he had to heal naturally and painstakingly slow. He guessed he could get himself released from the hospital at the end of the week at the earliest.

"The diary describes how Natsuo Todoroki not only went to school less and less regularly but how he even drank and might have even taken drugs. Yet, instead of offering support or even scold him for this behavior, it seems like Endeavor's go-to response was to completely ignore him and cut him even further off from his family," explained the man on screen. There were just two people now, talking about different passages from the diary.

"Yes, that was a shocking revelation," agreed the other one, a woman with thick glasses. "How can a parent react so carelessly when their own son keeps skipping school and starts taking drugs at thirteen. This is a young boy who had lost his brother and needed the support of his family. Instead, repeated attempts to visit his mother are thwarted by his father, his father who wouldn't even look at him and would even forbid the child to play with his younger brother. How could anyone do that to their own child?"

"Well, that is just it, isn't it?" sighed the man. "From these pages, it really seems like Endeavor did not see young Natsuo as his child, but rather a nuisance that could be a hindrance or even a bad influence on the youngest child."

"Sadly, that was my understanding as well." There was a short moment of silence, then the woman went on, "I think it's time to talk about the other son now, Shoto."

"Yes, with Shoto we have entirely different forms of abuse."

Enji stared at the ceiling and let the words wash over him. He remembered that year well enough.

* * *

 _"Try harder," he bellowed at Shoto who stood panting in the middle of their home dojo. "You're not trying hard enough, Shoto!"_

 _"I can't" whined the nine-year-old, wiping sweat off his brow. "I…" He gritted his teeth glaring up at his father who stood opposite him, arms crossed, the flaming beard flaring in disappointment._

 _"Stop that whining, Shoto. You're my masterpiece, if there's something you can't do, it's simply because you don't try hard enough!" Endeavor glared down at him with a mixture of pride, anger, and disappointment. "Do it again."_

 _Shoto was about to protest, but then he broadened his shoulders as if that could make him look older than the nine years that he was_ _. He_ _found his stance and let his flames out again in a bright roar of fiery flames. His face pinched in concentration and sweat was glistening on his skin. He was having trouble breathing with the exhaustion, Endeavor realized after a moment. That wouldn't do._

 _"Breathe!" he instructed._

 _Shoto didn't. Instead, his flames flickered out again. Now, he was breathing in heavy pants, hands on his knees._

 _"Again," demanded Endeavor. "You have to breathe."_

 _"I can't," cried Shoto, his knees wobbly._

 _"Stop it with the excuses! Here, look what I'm doing." He activated his own flames with ferocious power, just strong enough so they wouldn't burn down the entire room. "Breathe and control." He dowsed his own flames back to only the flickering flaming beard. "Now, you!"_

 _"I can't!" Shoto cried again, this time louder. "I need a bre-"_

 _"DO IT, SHOTO!" bellowed Endeavor angrily._

 _Shoto flinched back. For a moment he stood like a deer in headlights, then he seemed to gather his last bits of strength again, just as they heard the phone ring. Endeavor sighed after both h_ _e_ _and Shoto stared out of the dojo in the direction they heard the ringing from. "Fine, go take a shower. We'll continue your training tomorrow. But then, I don't want to hear any excuses!"_

 _He watched with a disappointed frown_ _as Shoto hurried out of the dojo to the bathroom as fast as his wobbly legs could carry him. This wouldn't do, he thought frustratedly as Endeavor himself moved across the lawn to the living room to pick up the phone. Shoto would never surpass All Might if he kept fighting Enji every step of the way, giving some bullshit excuses._

 _Only when he picked the phone up did he push the thoughts of Shoto to the back of his mind._

 _"This is Sarada Tomonaka," greeted a female voice from the other end adding the name of his elder children's school. "Who am I talking to?"_

 _"Enji Todoroki," he introduced himself. Fuyumi's teacher? He wondered for a moment, but of course, Fuyumi didn't cause any trouble. "Natsuo's father. What did he do this time?" He was called by different people from Natsuo's school all the time, though not this teacher yet. Natsuo was always causing trouble recently. Since Touya's death half a year ago, Natsuo had spent more time grounded than not. Enji was running out of ideas on how to handle the kid. He also was running out of patience with him. If Touya wasn't bad enough, now Natsuo made trouble._

 _"I fear Natsuo has started skipping school again," explained the teacher. "I know the school direct_ _ly_ _informed you of this recent habit of his before, and we did see some improvement earlier this month. However, now he hasn't been coming to school again."_

 _Enji sighed. Of course, it wouldn't hold. He too had hoped the fact that he hadn't heard from Natsuo's school for the last two weeks was a good sign. Of course, it wasn't. The kid was a disappointment in every sense of the word._

 _"We're aware of the recent_ _-_ _" Tomonaka hesitated, "-family tragedy, that triggered this misbehavior. But although we were willing to cut him some slack and have repeatedly offered our support, it simply can't go on like this. It's not just his grades anymore that are suffering. There are rumors among my other students that he spends the time when he's not going to school with rather … unsavory company." Enji could basically hear her scrunched up nose through the phone. All his children_ _were enrolled in_ _elite private schools. He was aware that what they considered 'unsavory company' might just be the kind of people he had hung out with as a student himself, but it could also be much worse._

 _"What sort of 'unsavory'?" he asked to make sure._

 _"Drugs, Todoroki-san. I fear there are…believable rumors that your son is drinking and taking drugs. As I mentioned, we were willing to cut Natsuo some slack after what happened to his brother, but this misconduct simply cannot be tolerated in our school. I fear if it goes on like that, I will have to talk to the direction, and we will have to suspend him for a time."_

 _Enji rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance, his flames flaring angrily. Drugs. A thirteen-year-old drug addict. Great! For a moment he thought about his career if that came out, then he thought about beating the kid black and blue for this transgression. But of course, Natsuo wasn't there at the moment, and maybe that was better for now._

 _"Thank you for your call," Enji finally sighed._

 _"Maybe you can talk some sense into him," suggested the teacher then. "I simply wanted to inform you before as his parent. That would be all for now."_

 _Enji ended the call without even promising that he would talk to his son. That hadn't worked so far, so he doubted it would work now. He truthfully didn't know what to do. He was still angry, though, and he trained for two hours to blow off some steam._

 _It was already getting dark when Natsuo came home. The boy entered the house quietly before he apparently tried to sneak his way to his room upstairs. Enji stopped him halfway standing in his way._

 _"Your school called," he informed._

 _The thirteen-year-old frowned up at him, saying nothing, but his hands curled into fists at his sides._

 _"You skipped class again."_

 _"Yeah?" hissed Natsuo. "What do you care?" He tried to push past Endeavor, but the man was big and broad enough that he barred the way effectively._

 _"They also mentioned drugs."_

 _At that Natsuo looked up in the sudden fear and bad conscience of a kid that knew he was caught. He bit his lips, but then he glared even angrier than before. "So, what?" He didn't even deny it, instead, he crossed his arms in front of his chest_ _. He_ _scow_ _led_ _darkly at his father, and for a moment, despite having inherited just about all his features from his mother, he looked oddly similar to his father. "Don't act as if you care! As long as Shoto…"_

 _"Do what you want then," interrupted Enji, staring down at his son in derisive disappointment. "Not like I'm surprised, really."_

 _The comment obviously hit a nerve as Natsuo bit his lip again, his face contorting with…something, but not the rebellious and defiant anger he had shown earlier. Endeavor scowled down at him, scrutinizing that look on his son's face._

 _"Why, because I'm your failure?" hissed Natsuo in a weak attempt to sound hateful when in reality he sounded…weak._

 _"Are you about to cry?" realized Endeavor suddenly. Indeed, water was already standing in Natsuo's eyes. "What, you come home after skipping school and taking drugs and you want me to praise you for it?" He raised a derogatory eyebrow._

 _Natsuo obviously wanted to retort something equally hurtful, but now that the tears were spilling over, whatever he might have said was kept inside in a pathetic attempt to hold back noisy sobs._

 _"Stop it," demanded Endeavor. "That's pathetic." What had Natsuo expected? Endeavor wondered. He must have known that Enji wouldn't be too happy with finding out his son took drugs._

 _"Can I go now?" Natsuo mumbled weakly._

 _"No, I first want you to understand something. If you want to skip school and take drugs and ruin your life, fine by me. Not like I didn't try to turn you into something useful. I really couldn't care less, anymore. But don't think I'll let you become a bad influence on your brother!"_

 _"Yeah," muttered Natsuo nodding, "it's always about him, isn't it? Shoto_ _this_ _, Shoto th_ _at_ _! Don't worry, I'm not going to corrupt your great Masterpiece." He angrily wiped away his tears._

 _"Good, just had to make sure, you know." Endeavor said, as he finally let Natsuo push past him towards his room. "And don't think you can visit your mom this we_ _e_ _k either. How do you think she would take it, seeing you in this pathetic state?"_

 _Suddenly Natsuo whirled around in hot anger. "Don't you dare!" he screamed, "it's all your fault that she's gone anyway! Her and Touya! I hate you!" Before Endeavor could answer or defend himself against the accusations, the door slid shut with enough force to make the walls tremble on impact._

 _Endeavor scowled back at the closed door with his arms crossed. Not like he cared, he thought defiantly. Natsuo had blamed him for Touya's death from day one. And he blamed him for Rei's breakdown. Nothing new there. Everyone in this household hated him, everything that happened in this household was his fault. Rei could burn their child, Touya could kill himself, but nobody would be angry with them or blame them. No, it was all his fault._

 _He went back to the dojo to train another two hours and let off even more steam until he was so tired, he couldn't even think about any of that anymore._

* * *

Had he fallen asleep?, he wondered as he stared back up to the hospital ceiling. Had he dreamed? A cursory look around the room revealed that it was dark outside, the light in the room was still on, and there was a report about some accident on a highway close to Tokyo on TV, one of those short stories that would interrupt the constant assumptions and debates about Endeavor's private life.

He wanted to get out of here, out of the hospital. But of course, the moment he got out, he knew his location would leak to the media and then he'd have to make a statement. It was even a miracle that the hospital staff managed to keep his presence hidden for as long as they apparently did.

The clock said it was shortly before midnight. Nobody had visited him all day. Fuyumi was of course probably still angry and still in denial about Touya. And Natsuo still hadn't contacted him. But apart from those two neither Shoto nor even Inari had visited all day. Inari had said he'd visit again, but instead, the only people Endeavor had seen were the hospital staff. He felt lonely, tired even though he had done nothing but sleep for the last few days.

Maybe he should just give up his license, he thought for a moment. Make a statement, admit to what he had done, apologize, give up his hero license and hope that would put an end to it. Maybe the media would let go of the scandal once he laid his cards out on the table. Or maybe they wouldn't and still drag him through the mud, but a least then he couldn't lose anything else and could just turn off the TV and not care about public opinions anymore.

He thought about Inari and the other people in his agency who would lose their jobs, but truthfully their well-being didn't rank very high on his list of priorities right now. Truth be told, he didn't really have a list of priorities. He just wanted to stop having to think about it, stop worrying, stop these stupid pointless debates. He wanted his family back. He didn't even really want the #1 position anymore. He only had it for three months and he almost died twice already. Should somebody else fight the next Nomu they would probably die trying, because – though part of that was maybe his arrogance, he was fairly certain that none of the other active heroes were strong enough to survive such an attack. At least if he quit that wouldn't be his problem anymore. Why couldn't somebody else be the #1 Hero who everybody could look up to? Half of Japan seemed to think he wasn't suited for that position anyway, and that was before all this family stuff came to light.

For a while, the thought of just giving up and admitting to his mistakes, stepping down as #1, giving up his license and then hiding somewhere away from the media and the public seemed oddly tempting. But then what?

Would that get him his family back? Would that help anybody? Would that make up for his mistakes? All he would do was push his responsibilities as #1 hero onto somebody else. Probably Hawks, who was the current number two and only 22 years old. The kid didn't even want to be in the top ten, never mind be the #1. He also probably wouldn't survive another battle against a Nomu of that power by himself. All Might was gone, Best Jeanist still in recovery, UA was compromised and the League of Villains more active than ever … Endeavor couldn't just up and leave. That would be the cowardly way to go.

Never mind…The League of Villains…Touya was out there. He had to find him, had to take him down. He didn't know what to do about Touya yet, but surely, he couldn't just let him wreak havoc on Japan. Touya was his son…his son gone rogue. Maybe it was Endeavor's fault that Touya had gone rogue in the first place. Maybe it was Touya's own decision after all, with Enji's behavior maybe as a motivating factor, but it was still Touya's own responsibility. Whatever it was, Touya was still his son and that made him Enji's responsibility one way or the other. If he couldn't save Touya, he could at least try and stop him from killing anybody else.

So…He didn't want to give up his hero license, he finally came to that conclusion. He would fight for it. But he also couldn't avoid the public – even less so as an active hero – or the media. He had to make his statement.

Again, he didn't know what to do. It wasn't like he cared what the public thought about him, but as a hero, public opinion was vital. He couldn't be a hero, never mind the #1, or a Symbol of Peace if everybody hated him. And he wanted to be a hero.

But he also wanted to be honest. He had promised his family and himself, hadn't he? That he would turn another leaf, that he would prove that his intention of repentance was true, that he wanted to get his family back together. He had known that would be difficult from the start. But he wanted to fight for their forgiveness, no matter how difficult it seemed. How could he prove to them, that he was truly sorry if he couldn't even man up and take responsibility for his actions and admit his mistakes?

Owning up to his mistakes could destroy his career. But did he have a choice?

* * *

So, my first flashback.

Honestly I fretted for a long time if I should post this like this. Somehow it's a weird thing to write a flashback in a story that has so far worked without them. I also actually don't want to write to many flashbacks over all, but I wanted to at least give glimpses into Endeavor's old behaviour in a more direct way. As I said, super nervous about this chapter because of the flashback, and I actually wrote multiple versions of this until I reverted back to more or less the original, but... well, tell me what you think?


	13. Do you want to be a Hero?

**Do You Want to be a Hero?**

Thursday at noon the door opened and Enji was sure it would be a nurse bringing his lunch when instead Shoto stepped inside. For a moment father and son stared at each other. Part of Enji hadn't really expected Shoto to come after he had left on Tuesday with the news that Touya was alive. He knew that the fear was irrational, as Shoto had accepted the truth about Touya and hadn't snapped at him the way Fuyumi had, but still it was there. Like dread burrowing through his insides and hurting with raw emotion for every hour Shoto had left him hanging.

He was glad to see Shoto. The boy wore his school uniform, had his backpack over one shoulder and was wheeling Enji's lunch cart behind him. It was the middle of the week. Had Shoto gone out of his way to spend his lunch break with his father in the hospital?

"You look much better than last time I saw you," commented Shoto as he placed Enji's lunch in front of him and pulled out a lunch box of his own.

Indeed, Enji sat cross legged on his hospital bed. He was awake, and although going to the bathroom was still somewhat troublesome, he had finally managed it on his own with only his crutches. He needed a shower and a shave, he knew, and he planned to get that done sometime tomorrow. He still couldn't do much more with his day than lie or sit around in his bed, but he felt like the recovery was finally going well. Before, the strong pain killers had knocked him out for half the day, but now that they had further regulated his dosage he'd been awake since the early morning without feeling too tired.

"They took me off the heavy pain killers," Enji explained as he scrutinized today's lunch. There was loads of eggplant both in the soup and the sides, he realized. "I need to get out of here," he commented as he moaned over the pitiful lack of sweets on his table.

"Any idea when you'll get out?" asked Shoto, opening his own more appetizing looking lunch box.

"Saturday or Sunday at the earliest," Enji replied. "They want to keep me longer, obviously. But I'd rather leave."

"That so?" Shoto asked and his thoughtful tone made Enji look up.

His son wasn't looking at him anymore, or at the lunch, instead his eyes had wandered to the TV. There had been some ads on when Shoto had walked in, but now the program was back with the discussion about him. Shoto stared at it with wide eyes.

There was a viewer calling in and telling a story about how she had once seen Endeavor work and how awfully unfriendly he had behaved. Endeavor didn't really care. So far, the accusations were mostly close to the truth. It was simply the first time that some viewers got to voice their opinions and with that all kinds of tales were being retold on national TV.

Instead of listening, Enji looked at Shoto. Finally, he grabbed the remote on his bedside table. During one of his slow journeys to the bathroom he had taken it with him, though he hadn't turned the TV off. He didn't turn it off now either, but muted the program.

Shoto blinked as if he had completely forgotten that he wasn't alone. Only when Enji coughed slightly did he get his son's attention back.

"You didn't tell me," Enji said after a pause. "Why?"

For a moment Shoto seemed confused by the question, then he shrugged. "After what you said about Touya…it didn't seem to matter anymore."

Enji nodded in understanding. Of course, he would have rather found out some other way, but he understood how the news about Touya could distract Shoto from everything else.

"You sure you want to get out there?" Shoto asked, finally furrowing his brow. "It's a witch hunt."

"I have to get out sooner or later." Enji shrugged. Truth be told, he didn't really want to get out of the hospital. But he also didn't feel like he should stay holed up any longer than necessary. "Are you fine?" he asked then. "With all this?" He gestured with his chopsticks towards the TV.

"I'm fine," grunted Shoto. Enji looked at him shortly, before he quietly made to eat something, giving Shoto time to yield some information. It didn't sound like Shoto was fine.

When no further explanation came, Enji looked back up at Shoto. "Really?" he asked almost sarcastically. "They show pictures of their journalists camping outside UA. How did you even make it here?"

"I had help," Shoto admitted finally. "One of our teachers drove me." He was clearly not happy that Enji doubted his first answer, but he was still brief in his response. "As I said, I'm fine. UA keeps me mostly sheltered."

Enji nodded, somewhat satisfied with the response. It seemed in line with what he had heard on TV. "What about your siblings?" he asked then.

For a moment Shoto seemed to hesitate, then his head sank a bit as if in surrender. "Fuyumi…I think it hinders her work. But they mostly seem to leave her alone. Maybe because she doesn't have a scar." There was a bitter undertone to the statement. "Natsu has it worst. I don't know, though…"

"What do you mean?" Enji asked worried.

"He's…" he seemed to look for the right word, "he's isolating himself, I think. Don't know, maybe that kidnapping hit him harder than I thought. He seemed fine. But he hardly talks to anyone anymore. Fuyumi visits every now and then, tries to make him talk. I would too, but…" he hesitated again, then gritted his teeth in anger, "I don't know him all that well, really."

His fault, Enji heard the unspoken accusation. He had ruined that relationship. He didn't apologize, though. What would that change? Instead he gripped his chopsticks a bit harder, trying to rein in his flames and stopping them from burning the wooden sticks to charcoal.

"I see," he only muttered.

"About Touya…" He changed the topic, but before he could get any further Shoto cut him off.

"Stop," he demanded, "not…now."

Enji simply nodded. "How was school?" he asked again.

Shoto finally seemed to remember his food as he suddenly stared down at his lunch box and ate a bit of sushi from it. "Ah…" he answered a bit vaguely. "We had battle practice yesterday the whole day."

"How did it go?" Enji asked, more pro forma than anything else. He was sure it went fine. Shoto was strong and good in battle. However, as Shoto took a moment to respond Enji looked up from his meal again to see Shoto looking oddly insecure.

"You lost?" he asked in surprise. He hadn't seen that coming. For a moment he felt a sting of disappointment, then he pushed it aside as quickly as it came.

"A draw," answered Shoto glaring at Enji as if challenging him to say something negative.

"A draw?" Enji asked. "How's that…did you knock each other out?"

"It was a team practice," Shoto specified after a moment of thoughtful silence. Maybe he was contemplating how much he wanted to tell his father. Then he sighed. "But yes, in essence, we knocked each other out." There was something in his eyes though that belied a different truth.

Enji raised a questioning eyebrow. He didn't know what Shoto was hiding from him, but it was…something he didn't want Enji to know. "If you don't want to tell, that's fine," he teased with a nonchalant shrug, hoping to lure the information out of his son.

"What?" Shoto retorted. "I told you. I was knocked out."

"I know you left something out," Enji explained his doubts. "It's all over your face."

Shoto bristled in indignant anger. "Fine! I knocked myself out, mostly. That what you want to hear?" He glared at Enji angrily, but Enji didn't respond. "I tried to superheat and use flashfire but I just couldn't do it."

"How long did you manage?" Enji asked, interested.

Shoto pouted, obviously contemplating whether he should answer at all, but then he relented. "Just a few seconds. It still doesn't work. It's too much."

"Stop it," retorted Enji. "You just have to try harder, if…"

He cut himself off as Shoto decidedly closed his lunch box and stood up. "I'm leaving," he declared.

"What?" For a moment he was surprised, but then he understood. "Don't run away now, Shoto!"

"Look," Shoto snapped in his direction, "I'm perfectly fine to give you a chance. But if you keep talking to me like I'm your perfect "Masterpiece,' I'm out." He glared at Enji, who couldn't help but glare back at him. "I don't want any of that. Keep your lessons, I had enough of those when I was younger! If that's all you want…"

"SHOTO!" snapped Enji, effectively cutting Shoto off as the boy stood in the room panting in anger. "Do you want to be a hero?"

Shoto stared at him dumbfoundedly and Enji suddenly stared back with equally wide eyes. Had he ever…asked that question before? He tried to remember; surely, he had…hadn't he?

He was snapped out of his shocked silence when Shoto suddenly turned on his heels and left the room. "Wait!" Enji cried, instinctively jumping from the bed and almost crumbling from the sudden pain of the movement. "I'm sorry!"

He was on the floor of his hospital room where he had collapsed from the sudden pain of his movement, one arm still over the bed for some leverage, when the door banged shut with ferocious anger. For a moment he stared after Shoto, then he sank fully to the ground, putting his head in his hands.

Why couldn't he have just shut up?

* * *

Oh Enji...  
He's walking over a minefield and not very successfully at that.  
So now, you might have realized where I was going with it.  
Step ... I don't even know how many steps it were at this point, tbh ... anyway LAST step of project 'Isolating Endeavor' complete.  
I hope you liked this chapter.

On a different note, I have the next part of 'I'm Watching!' written, just need to get it beta-read... So maybe I'll manage to update that one next week as well. I have a bit of a stressfull two weeks up ahead, though. So no promises.  
speaking of 'I'm Watching!' I'll probably also at some point include a Shoto-perspective on this scene. What Enji said wasn't really that bad, and I promise he meant it in a good way. And Shoto's reaction is as bad as it is, because it's Enji talking.


	14. Dying Anger

Bit of a late update I think... Forgive me! I really hope you like this, I think I have successfully brought Enji really low. First though two bad news:

a) I apparently accidentally deleted the second and third chapter of 'I'm Watching!' ... I had it all written up and ready to sent to my Beta but then it was suddenly gone... So I don't know... but I have to write this stuff again.  
b) my Beta quit. :( So up until now, The Kindly One made an awesome, fast and consistent job betaing my story. But now Real Life comes in the way, so I either need a new one or ... well, I don't know yet, tbh. Maybe one of my readers is interested, now that I have some actually really engaged and loyal readers :D

* * *

 **Dying Anger**

On Friday afternoon he called Natsuo for the first time. Now that neither Fuyumi nor Shoto visited to give him updates on the 19-year-old, he was increasingly worried again. He had agreed to give Natsuo a bit of space and time to come to terms with what had happened, but this was bordering on ridiculous. A week had passed since they last saw each other and Natsuo hadn't visited or called.

Natsuo ignored the call. Enji was angry at first, but then he started worrying. Had something happened?

He called Fuyumi next.

"Hello? This is Todoroki Fuyumi," she greeted.

"Fuyumi, it's me," Enji started.

"Dad? What do you want? I really have no time." There was an impatient, almost angry undertone to her voice. They were still on bad terms after Enji had revealed the truth about Touya. She probably still didn't believe him. Obviously, she didn't want to talk to him.

"It's just a quick question," Enji hurried to say. There was a sigh from her side, but she let him talk anyway. "I tried calling Natsuo, but he ignored my call. Is everything…?"

"Everything's fine," she interrupted. Then there was a short pause. "Are you calling from the hospital phone? He probably didn't recognize your number." From the background noise it sounded like she was moving around. Maybe, she had spoken the truth and really was short on time.

"You sure he's fine?" asked Enji.

"I'm visiting Mom in an hour; he should be there." She explained shortly.

"Can you tell him to call me?"

"Sure. Can't promise anything, though. He's…difficult." She made a short pause. "And I really have to hurry."

"Of course," Enji nodded to himself. "Are you going to tell her about Touya," he asked then.

"You still…? We're not talking about this, again!" Fuyumi hissed on her end. "She doesn't have to…It's not…Just stop it!" She sounded tired.

Enji relented. "Alright. The doctors say I may get released on Monday." He changed the topic because it was easier that way.

Of course, somebody would have to tell Rei sooner or later. Touya was her son and she needed to know. It should probably be his responsibility, but as long as the doctors didn't want him to see her, that wasn't an option. He'd have to come up with a different plan if Fuyumi wouldn't do it. Part of him hoped Natsuo could tell his mother. But for that Enji would need to talk to Natsuo first, and as long as the boy kept his distance and he was holed up in hospital, that was almost impossible.

"Fine," Fuyumi answered. Her voice was harsh, almost snapping. "I don't really care."

Enji stared at the opposite wall for a silent moment. Then he closed his eyes in regret. Of course, she wouldn't care. Not the way he hoped she would. She was still angry and in denial. This time not even for something that was her father's fault.

"I thought you should know," he explained weakly. "We live in the same house, after all." He smiled as if this was a failed attempt at humor, which it wasn't.

"Good," answered Fuyumi shortly. "Now, I know. And I plan to move out, just so you know," she put special emphasis on the 'you' as if to mock his prior words.

"Fuyumi," Enji started, "you don't…"

"If that's all, I really have to go! Goodbye." She ended the call before he could ask her not to.

Enji Todoroki looked down at the receiver in stunned silence for just a moment. She would move out?

Great!

He angrily threw the receiver down on the telephone, almost smashing both of them. He was rapidly getting stronger now. He still had some aches and took some mild painkillers, but he had healed well from most of his more superficial wounds. Yet while his physical state steadfastly improved, everything else went to shit.

So, Fuyumi would move out of the house. The very thought made him both desperate and furious at once. Why? Why now?! Why did everything have to go so wrong all of a sudden?

Did he deserve it? He refused to believe that! Wasn't he trying to do better? It just seemed so unfair. Of course, he knew he had done horrible, maybe unforgivable things to his family. He was the reason they struggled so much. He did, of course, deserve their scorn and couldn't just demand their forgiveness. He'd known that! When he had first realized his mistakes and endeavored to do better, he had known that maybe he would never get their approval or forgiveness or love. But still…

Wasn't he trying hard enough?

Of course, he made mistakes. With Shoto he had just said the wrong thing at the wrong time. He knew that. He was essentially running blind. It wasn't like he had a great role model to base his actions on, but at least he tried to do right by them now. But instead, it all seemed to go horribly wrong.

Half a year ago, he hadn't even known all the evil he had done. Hadn't been aware of it. His family had hated him, of course. But it all seemed fine. Shoto had overcome what Endeavor had back then assumed was just a period of childish teenage rebellion, had even joined him for his internship and defeated the hero-killer. Fuyumi had still lived in the house with him. Of course, she had feared him, but at least she was there. Natsuo had been safe in the dormitory. Away from Endeavor, but also away from the League or the press and the attention of the public. Rei was recovering in hospital, traumatized by him, of course, but on his end, he could indulge in his blissful unawareness of what his actions had caused. Touya…hadn't tried to kill him yet.

Six months ago, he was still the number two hero. Of course, he had hated that position, but he'd been admired and respected for it, at least. There hadn't been any expectations. Nobody demanded that he become a second All Might when they all knew he couldn't. Nobody needed him to be a Symbol of Peace, or some pathetic surrogate for it. Nobody needed him to be sympathetic and charismatic when that just wasn't who he was. Nobody would even dare to suggest that he may be unsuited to his position. He had solved the most cases in the history of Japan. He had been a more than adequate number two.

Since then everything had gotten so much worse. Maybe it would have been easier if he hadn't started caring about what his family thought of him, if he hadn't seen what his actions had cost them, if he didn't want to earn their forgiveness. Maybe it would be easier if he didn't care what the public thought, if he didn't care for the increase in villain activity, if he didn't want to be a Symbol of Peace.

Maybe he just shouldn't have bothered, because since then his life had fallen apart. The many new scars on his body and face were just a pale mirror of the turn his life had currently taken.

Why had his trying to be better made everything so much worse? Why did he feel worse now than ever before?

He glared at the muted TV screen where they still talked about him after so many days. Of course, by now, the novelty of the scandal had subsided, and there were more lies on the news than truths, but they still couldn't go an hour without at least mentioning him. Currently somebody he recognized as a former middle school teacher was talking, probably telling the stories of his childhood, of what a horrible kid he'd been even then. She wouldn't even need to lie. It would still be damning enough even if she exaggerated the story of how he had almost burned down the school building once when he had lost control of his quirk. Of course, he didn't know what she was actually talking about as the TV was muted, but he didn't need to know.

His wife was too afraid to look at him anymore.

He blinked stupidly at the screen, not really seeing the people on it anymore.

His youngest son rightfully hated him so much he had refused to use one half of his quirk for the longest time; Shoto had hated his own quirk.

He blinked again, more rapidly. Then he shook his head harshly, trying to stop thinking.

His other son didn't even believe Enji would care enough to save him from a kidnapping.

He had to get out of here! Out of the hospital! He was getting so sick of it!

His daughter who always seemed to be the most open to his change would now be moving out of the house, because it was easier for her to believe that her father had made a cruel joke rather than believe that…

Touya had tried to kill him. His own son had tried to murder him!

He was crying now, he realized. Tears were spilling from his eyes, dripping down on the hospital bed sheets and disappearing in white linen. He buried his face in his hands, embarrassed for his own weakness. Pathetic! Yet he couldn't stop. The harder he tried to stop the flow of tears the more brutally they came.

He was sobbing. Crying so hard he was almost gagging. Gods, he was pathetic! He was the number one hero! The Flame Hero: Endeavor, sitting in his bed whining like a young child for something…that was his own fault.

He had done this. It was all his own doing.

Clumsily he climbed out of bed and stumbled to the adjoining bathroom. He almost tripped over his own feet as he stumbled past the toilet until he reached the sink. He had felt like vomiting before. That had made him hurry for the bathroom, but now the sensation was gone, and he didn't know what to do. He was an adult and he refused to cradle the toilet like a sick person. He wasn't sick! Injured, sure, but there was no need to vomit. He wasn't that weak!

His hands gripped the porcelain rim of the sink hard enough to turn his knuckles white with the strain. The sink crunched dangerously as he involuntarily put too much weight on it.

He splashed water on his face, but it didn't do anything to quench his tears or stop his sobs or make him look less pathetic. For a second, he held his whole head under the stream of cold water.

When he looked back up, he stared blankly into his mirror image. He was pale, disheveled from lying around so much but freshly shaven. His eyes were red rimmed, and his skin blotched from crying. And there was the scar. The ugly scar that he hadn't cared for that much at first, but now it only served to remind him of Shoto and what he had done.

The face in the mirror was offending him. Weak, he thought hatefully, pathetic and unworthy of being a hero, never mind the number one. He tried activating his quirk to make his flaming beard distract from his altogether wretched state…but the flames didn't come.

Enji stared at himself in shock, then he tried again. Nothing. Why couldn't he…? All his life it had been easier to let the flames roam free than to quench them completely. They had always been there. He wore his flaming beard even in private, not just because he thought it looked nice, but because it was easier that way. Easier to let some of his fire breathe than strangle it all to nothing.

It wasn't recent, he thought to himself. He hadn't worn the beard after his fight with the High-End Nomu. Did he only realize that now? Why hadn't he?

Again, he found himself staring at himself. He knew. Of course, he knew.

Anger.

All his life, his flames had fed off his anger. Pride and determination, too, of course-but mostly his anger. This uncontrollable, vengefully hot fury that had always driven him forward. Anger at All Might for being who he was, anger at the world, anger at his own weaknesses. That had been the source of his power, the fuel for his fire.

Suddenly he laughed. A harsh and almost hysteric barking that ripped from his throat and then hung empty in the small bathroom. Why couldn't he have just remained ignorant? It apparently wasn't enough that he had lost his family and the support of the public, maybe even his hero license! Now he was also physically weaker from this? Ridiculous!

His anger was gone. The thing that had fueled his fire was suddenly extinguished. And with it, apparently, his quirk.

He wasn't angry. He was…

Guilty.

And everybody knew.

* * *

I hope you liked it.

Also, I think it's time to leave the hospital in the next chapter. We've spent enough time with Enji just glued to his bed... Now that I think back on it ... kinda surprised I could actually do SIX whole chapters with my character and story just sitting in the same room. Thank you for staying with me I guess and not getting impatient.


	15. A Day at the Agency

Sorry for the late update. I recently failed an exam for University, so now I have to learn more and won't be able to write as much as I used to. For that reason, I won't be able to update as regularly as I used to. I try to still update twice a month, and I want to go back to the regular posting schedule as quick as possible, but for now, at least up to October I'll have to concentrate on my studies.

Sorry for that! But I hope you like the next chapter anyway.

Last chapter I mentioned, my Beta-reader leaving me. Now, I found a new one! One of my lovely readers offered her help.

* * *

 **A Day at the Agency**

On his first day after he got released from the hospital, he didn't go home. He had tried to, but the mob of journalists and paparazzi camping outside his house had made him tell his driver to turn around. At that point, he didn't really think he'd fare any better at his agency, but there weren't many other places he could go to just now.

Apparently, he was lucky. There were of course journalists and paparazzi in the area, but his agency was right in the center of Musutafu, and he guessed the police had cleared the area for the regular traffic, so he could guide his driver right down to the underground garage.

"Yasui-san had the police disperse the paparazzi a short time ago. Since there is hardly anyone in the office, currently, they don't seem too eager to besiege the building," his driver explained as they exited the car.

"What do you mean there is hardly anybody here?" Enji asked with a frown, but indeed a cursory glance around revealed hardly any parked cars in the big garage. "What about the patrols?"

The driver sighed as he closed the door. He glanced at his boss for a moment. "We had a few people quit or ask for leave. Since you weren't here…"

Endeavor nodded numbly. "What about the patrols?" he asked again.

"Your sidekicks are still patrolling the city, as far as I know," said the driver reassuringly. "Yasui-san and Uchida-san apparently take the major share of them."

Wataru Yasui, hero name Avalanche, and Akemi Uchida, hero name Silent Tracker, were two of his most senior sidekicks. In his absence Yasui and his secretary Inari would lead the Agency together. Of course, he knew that the revelations regarding his private life would have major repercussions on his agency as well. He had hoped they wouldn't happen so soon, but…had people really already quit their positions here? Maybe many of the younger ones, Enji assumed, and the interns who weren't financially dependent on the job or could easily find a different job that paid just as well. It shouldn't surprise him too much that especially in the administrative sector of his agency there were many who had to think over their position and whether or not to work for him, thus leaving the office building mostly empty. The same of course couldn't be said for the sidekicks. Whatever crisis there was, somebody had to patrol the city and he was thankful that his sidekicks still did their job without him.

Silently, Enji watched as the driver retrieved the bag with Enji's things from the trunk.

They made it to the door leading to the staircase. Enji only had to climb a few stairs to reach the elevators that would take him all the way to his office. Yet, even if it were just a few stairs, it was surprisingly difficult, and he felt very weak all of a sudden. The injuries on his torso hadn't completely healed yet. He didn't need crutches to walk, but he still felt sore. Stairs, it seemed, were still a challenge. The hospital of course had elevators, so he hadn't realized until now how much of a pain they still were.

If Enji had harbored any illusions about going back on patrol soon, they were now thoroughly crushed. He'd be limited to deskwork for the foreseeable future. At least for the next week. If the Hero Association hadn't taken his license by then, maybe he could plan to get back on the streets by next Monday.

"Do you need help, sir?" asked the driver, hovering close to him.

"No," grunted Enji, pushing the helping hand aside when the man offered it. "Go ahead, I'll catch up."

However injured he may have still been, he was still Endeavor. He could handle some stairs. This was ridiculous! He gritted his teeth and struggled onwards, taking one step at a time.

It was indeed ridiculous, he had to concede, as after what felt like an eternity, he finally arrived on the ground level, where the driver patiently awaited him with the elevator doors already open. Enji was even sweating a little from the effort. As soon as he was in his office and alone, he told himself, he could take a nap on the couch where nobody would see this moment of weakness.

"So," Enji mumbled as the elevator started travelling upwards. This was awkward, he thought. Normally he didn't speak much nor spend much time with his driver. It wasn't like he was driven around town all the time. Normally when he worked in the office or went on patrol, he drove to work by himself, and the patrols he did on foot. It was only when he made longer journeys by car or visited some social events or stuff like that, that he made use of the agency's driver. Normally on those occasions there were papers or speeches or other preparation he had to go through, so he hardly talked to the man more than necessary. When they were at their destination, he normally just stepped out of the backseat and let his driver park the car while he went to whatever event he was attending.

Normally, he realized, he wasn't alone with the man for any lengthy period of time, so they would have no need to talk.

"Thanks for the help," Enji said after a moment in which the other man just looked at him expectantly. The hero indicated the bag that the driver still had slung over his shoulder.

"Sir?" There was a short moment of confusion, then the other man smiled. "You're welcome."

Again, they lapsed into silence for a moment. How long could it possibly take for the elevator to get them up to his office. Sure, it was high up on the thirty-fourth floor. But still, he didn't remember it ever taking that long before. "So, many have quit?" he remembered what the man had told him earlier.

Apart from the sounds of the elevator, he had to concede that it was very quiet in the building. Maybe that was just his imagination. Would he even hear the masses outside, contained as he was in this small metal box, even if they were there?

"Yes sir," the man answered.

What was his name again? Enji wondered embarrassed. He was very tall. Taller even than Enji himself who was a tall man in his own right, although the driver was very slim in comparison. "Why didn't you?" he asked curiously.

For just a brief moment he remembered Inari's outraged when he said something similar to his secretary, then he brushed the memory aside. If it was tactless to ask people why they didn't quit, let the man rage. He was curious about the answer.

In fact, the man didn't seem angry about the question, just a bit surprised at first. Then he smiled a somewhat lopsided smile. "You pay well enough." There was a simple shrug and briefly Enji wondered if it was really all that easy, when thankfully the elevator finally stopped, the doors sliding open without a sound.

His driver trailed after him to Endeavor's office, where he deposited the bag in a corner.

"Do you need anything else?" he asked and when Enji declined, he bowed curtly, bidding his farewell. "Call me when you need me again," he said and turned to leave.

He would of course stay somewhere close-by, Enji knew. In his current condition the #1 Hero couldn't even drive himself home anymore, so his driver had to stay on stand-by. Enji assumed he'd be spending a lot more time with the man in the next few days, so he'd better learn his name. Fortunately, that would be an easy task, he thought, glancing at the computer on his desk.

Matsutaka Matsuura, he found out only five minutes later and committed the name to memory. 42 years old and he had worked for the agency for almost twenty years. Enji was almost a bit ashamed at that.

He sat back finally, glancing around his office, looking for things to do. Of course, there was lots to do. He couldn't go on patrol, true, but after more than a week of absence, work must have piled up. Never mind, he had to release a statement to the press soon, though he didn't know what to say in it yet. And he had to get back on track with his agency, find out what exactly had changed, who had quit, who had taken a leave of absence, and if necessary, forcing them back to work before they had too few personnel to keep the city safe.

Much to do…and yet, he didn't know where to start.

It somewhat bugged him that he was so alone. When they had left the elevator, he noticed Inari hadn't been at his desk. It was early afternoon, and he supposed Inari must have been here in the morning, but that didn't really quell his disappointment. Why wasn't he here? If Inari wanted to quit, that was one thing, but to not come to work because he was injured and couldn't control his employees was quite another. And Inari was obviously not the only one.

Absentmindedly his eyes found the last thing he had worked on, before this whole business with Natsuo and Touya had started, before Fuyumi had called him. Haphazardly stored away in the upper drawer below his desk there were a few notes regarding a potential traitor in his agency.

Right, he realized suddenly, if he was all alone, he could do this without anybody realizing. Investigating his own employees still felt like dirty business, but if he had to do it, it seemed like doing it while everybody else was absent was just the perfect timing.

He read through the notes he had written, again, then he moved back to his computer.

Half an hour later he had read the emails Inari had sent him regarding his own investigation. He had also gone to Inari's desk in the adjoining office and looked for any added information he could find in his secretary's workspace.

Back in his office, he sat comfortably on the dark couch in the center of the big dark room, papers spread around him, Inari's mails open on a tablet computer.

There were a few employees Inari had marked with question marks. Holes in their vita, suspicious statements, questionable family history, altercations with police and the law. It was obvious to Endeavor from the different documents, that Inari had kept investigating after Endeavor's own unfortunate meeting with the League of Villains, but the investigations had somewhat died down after the whole business with the diary became public knowledge. After that, Inari had only followed up on a few leads but apparently mostly spent his energy on controlling or mitigating the crisis the agency was suddenly thrust in.

It wasn't surprising to Endeavor that Inari had focused on and prioritized the current situation instead of investigating his own colleagues, but for Enji it meant that he had a whole bunch of inconclusive trails, clues and tracks to pick up on. It also meant he couldn't be sure that Inari had even found everything or if he had maybe missed important details.

For now, he decided, it was as good a point as any to start with Inari's initial suspicions.

Of course, there was the business with Camie Utsushimi, aka Himiko Toga. However, since she had never been part of the agency, she also couldn't have used this position to spy on Endeavor. More urgently, Enji feared, was Himiko's faked relationship with Natsuo. His son had very likely (though unwittingly) spied on Endeavor for the League of Villains. However, similarly to Himiko Toga herself, Natsuo too wouldn't have known anything about Endeavor's meeting with Hawks. Back then Enji had even less contact with Natsuo than he had now. Natsuo had likely not even known that Endeavor took a trip, never mind where to. Because of their chilled relationship, his second son had also never asked his father about any of his plans.

Enji decided to leave those two aside for now. Yes, they were probably spying on him, but no, they couldn't have informed the League prior to the Nomu attack.

Who else?

He glanced down at a big question mark Inari had drawn behind one of his younger sidekicks. A 24-year-old heroine who had apparently…forgotten to mention that she had gotten into trouble once with the police over a case of petty theft. Apparently, a generous donation by her parents had made the accusations go away. Of course, she hadn't mentioned it during her job interview.

If that was proof of some latent villainous traits in the young heroine, the League may have been able to exploit those tendencies. That was unlikely, though. The girl had only been fourteen during the incident and a quick search by Endeavor through different police and hero archives affirmed what Inari's notes also claimed-that there had been no other incident after that. This one case might have been a slip up, a case of youthful stupidity…something like that. Not proof of villain tendencies. But there was still the option that the League might have found out and threatened the girl, Enji thought.

Following a whim, he still looked for the girl in his agency's database to see if she was in the building. With a bit of surprise, he realized that the girl had quit. He stared dumbfoundedly at the information. Of course, Matsuura the driver had warned him about this, but it was still a bit of a shock to see the first clear proof of somebody leaving his employment.

After a moment of just staring at the tablet screen, he crossed her off the list of suspects, then he hesitated.

Any spy in his agency working for the League of Villains wouldn't quit so easily, he decided. With new determination he looked for a list of people who had quit in the past few days. He decidedly pushed his emotions to the back of his mind, trying not to be so shocked at the long list of names. He had known this, he told himself. He had been warned. People had quit, Matsuura had told him.

He shouldn't react in anger or disappointment; he should look at this calmly and rationally.

They were just names. Names he could cross-off of the ever-shrinking list of suspects.

He could distance himself from this feeling of abandonment.

The list shrank fast. As he had expected, most of the employees that had quit were ether interns who weren't paid much anyway and didn't need this job or young people who didn't yet have any attachment to the agency created by years of working for it. It wasn't too many, relatively speaking, Endeavor told himself. The Endeavor Hero Agency was huge, a few dozen people quitting wasn't that bad compared to the hundreds who still worked for him…still if this was the damage done to his agency before he had even admitted to his mistakes, he feared the consequences once everybody found out the truth.

He had a bit of a sour taste in his mouth that the shorter list of suspects he was left with consisted of the loyal employees that hadn't quit on him so easily. That was of course to be expected, but it stung anyway.

He crossed Inari off the list. Inari had known the hospital Enji had recovered in. This information was top secret for most heroes who recovered from life-threatening injuries to prevent villains from attacking. Now that Enji knew how hellbent Dabi-and by extent, the League-was to get rid of him, they would surely have attacked the hospital if they had known he was there.

They didn't have any qualms about attacking a city with millions living in it and dragging them into a battle of gigantic proportions. Endeavor was sure they wouldn't shrink away from attacking a hospital. Especially when they could just sneak in and kill him off in his weakest moment.

After some consideration he also excluded everybody else from the list of suspects who had the option to find out about his location, even if the name and location of the hospital was not disclosed to them directly or only told to them later on.

Matsuura, his driver, had only found out about his location today. But still, if he were on the League's side and after Endeavor's life, he could have used this opportunity. Wataru Yasui, aka Avalanche, was his most senior sidekick and entrusted with leading the agency in his absence. He would have surely found a way to locate Endeavor if he had tried to. Similarly, his lawyer was shrewd and smart enough that he could find out about Endeavor's location by tracking the phone call he had with Inari while Inari was inside the hospital.

The list was still long even after Enji crossed those names off. Next, he crossed off employees that, according to Inari's notes, couldn't have known about Endeavor's destination when he had gone to meet Hawks in Fukuoka.

Enji worked through the list again and again, making general assumptions and requirements and crossing off people who didn't meet those. The League hadn't been active until recently, so he looked for people who behaved especially suspicious in more recent years. A spy would try to get as close to the source of information as possible, so he focused his search on people who either directly applied or worked their way up to positions where they would be more likely to get access to classified information. He didn't exclude certain people, as even the housekeeping personnel could find classified information, they weren't actually privy too, if they searched the offices after office hours. But still, he focused on those people who were at least showing some effort to advance to positions with a certain level of trust. He excluded people who seemed to have too much to lose and too little to gain by betraying his agency.

For all he knew, the League of Villains wasn't particularly wealthy. After the apprehension of the leader All For One, Endeavor had heard reports from the streets that the League was desperately recruiting new members with little success. Part of the reason for that seemed to be, that aside from an ideology and the opportunity to cause chaos, they didn't have much to offer other villains to make them join. At least not currently.

The upper echelon of Endeavor's agency earned quite a lot of money. The League wouldn't be able to just buy them off at the risk of losing their jobs and more if they were caught. So, whoever the spy was they probably had ideological or personal reasons for betraying Endeavor and the Hero Association, or maybe they were threatened. The only people they could possibly buy from Endeavor's agency were the people who worked the least paying jobs. Those, however, wouldn't be privy to much information unless they heard it through gossip or happened upon it by accident. If the League had financial troubles, and he was operating under that assumption, then that would be a rather risky expenditure to their much-needed bankroll, if not a complete waste.

So not money…

He crossed Silent Tracker off the list after much consideration. There wasn't much, the villains could possibly threaten her with, he decided. A year or so ago, somebody had hacked her social media accounts and made everything public. Among which was her relationship with a famous actress and her brother's struggle with drugs. It had all caused quite a public outcry, but it also meant that at this point there wasn't much left the League could possibly threaten her with. Even if they threatened her with violence, Enji doubted they'd be successful. Said drug-addicted brother, he remembered, had lived in Kamino and had been severely injured by some falling rubble during the battle between All For One and All Might.

It gave him the idea to also cross out everybody who had lost a close family member or friend in any of the League's vile acts, and anybody who had lost somebody they loved or admired to the Hero-Killer.

One of his office workers, he found out, had publicly raged against the Hero-Killer's ideology, calling him a vile murderer and unrepentant villain. He crossed her off the list, because the League had thrived on and used Stain's ideology, even if Stain himself hadn't been a member.

Slowly but surely, he found different factors to look at, different angles from which to approach the issue. Slowly but surely the list shrank.

He missed dusk and only looked up from his work when, after hours of pouring through documents and databases it had gotten so dark in his office that he could hardly read the words on the paper anymore. He turned on the lights, looking around at the sheer chaos in the big office.

That was when he took a short break to eat.

At midnight he got a call from his driver on his office phone. He wanted to know if he intended on going home today and Enji blushed in embarrassment at having made the man wait until so late in the night without giving him any information.

"I'll stay here for the night," he explained and he didn't know himself if he was so engaged in his investigation that he couldn't stop, or if he was just postponing the moment when he would have to inevitably go home to an empty house without any of his children waiting for him - with his doorstep swarmed by paparazzi. "You can go home." There was an indistinguishable noise from the other side and Endeavor imagined the man to be a bit annoyed that he had waited so long for nothing. "I won't need you tomorrow morning," Enji explained as a way to apologize. "Take the morning off."

"Yes Todoroki-san. Good night, sir."

"Good night," Enji answered, "Matsuura-san."

There was a short pause, maybe a moment of surprise, before Matsuura ended the call.

* * *

So, Enji has finally left the hospital. And now... so much to do, so little time.  
Initially I wanted to go for a round-about thirty-chapter-fic. So, this would have been the halfway mark. And I didn't even find time for Rei, yet! So, yep, it will probably be a few more chapters. Now, I hope to make it in fifty. Wish me luck!

Anyway ... with Enji out of hospital I realized that there is so much to do. Children, Job, Wife, Traitor, League, Publicity... Other stuff... Not to forget his still bad mental and physical health. Lot's to do for poor Endeavor. I'm just curious, what you are most looking forward to.


	16. Meeting the Lawyers

Hi,

did you see my new Chapter in 'I'm Watching!' ? Anyway I hope you like this one.

* * *

 **Meeting the Lawyers**

He woke to the noise of the coffee machine running outside his office. There was a small break room for the employees to gather on just about every other floor in the building.

On the twenty-fourth floor, aside from Enji's own office, there were only four other offices. Inari's office directly next to Enji's, the lawyer Nakamura's office, another office with Nakamura's two younger subordinates, and in the last office was Enji's own chief of security.

Only six people actually worked on this floor. Appropriately the break room on this floor was rather small. It only offered small table, a coffee machine, some cupboards and drawers, a dishwasher, a toaster, a small fridge, and a microwave.

Groggily, Enji looked up as he heard voices from the break room drifting into his office. A few sheets of paper laid spread over his lap, the couch, and the coffee table, some more having fallen to the floor.

He had fallen asleep during work, he realized in embarrassment, and moved himself to a sitting position, groaning as his injuries acted up from the slight movement. The couch was not exactly the most comfortable to sleep on, Enji knew, since it wasn't the first time that he had slept in his office. Especially during the time after Touya's death, or even back when Rei was still there and they were constantly fighting, it had sometimes been easier to just work late into the evening and then sleep in the office. Of course, he had only done that when for whatever reason he had an excuse not to train Shoto. A rare school trip, a sickness or injury that was bad enough that even Enji had to concede the boy had to stay in bed, and mostly on cases where he had to work late hours, so much so that he couldn't find time to train Shoto anyway. The couch wasn't exactly meant or bought for the purpose of sleeping, though. It was more of a bench, really, than a lush and comfortable sofa.

His back always hurt a bit after the nights on the couch, reminding him that he wasn't 25 anymore. He may have trained himself to super human strength, but even he could – embarrassingly enough – sometimes be defeated by furniture. Even more so now, with his injuries still hurting him the way they were.

He dragged himself to the bag from the hospital. Besides the clothes, pajamas, bathroom etui, and a book Fuyumi had left him during one of her earlier visits before he had started talking about Touya, there was also the medicine the doctors had given him. He took a pill against the pain with some cold tea that was left from the evening. Only after that did he start to collect the papers and documents, conquering the chaos he had created in his own office.

There were voices from the break room. Through the closed door he couldn't identify them for sure, but he thought one of them was the loud and booming voice of his lawyer. He looked into the window in front of his office, trying to find a mirror image of himself somewhere on the glass panels to rearrange his clothes in a way that looked halfway presentable and not as if he had just slept in the clothes he was still wearing from yesterday.

He didn't look as bad as he would assume from a night on the couch, especially since he had just gotten out of the hospital and had worked well into the morning hours. He'd normally wear his costume to work, though, so he guessed the sight of him out of costume was maybe distracting enough for his employees that they wouldn't notice his tired and disheveled state.

Without the flaming beard and mask, he thought somewhat distantly, his scar was also a lot more visible, so maybe that would shock them enough into not looking any further.

When he entered the break room there was a moment of surprised silence.

"Endeavor-san!" Nakamura the lawyer was the first to get over his surprise as he walked towards his boss and bowed politely and then pressed his shoulder in a more personal greeting. "We didn't expect you here already."

Endeavor retorted with an equally friendly greeting before he looked at the other two men present.

One was a young woman with blond locks and big round glasses who bowed profusely and very low, blushing from embarrassment that she had unexpectedly ran into her boss. She was one of the younger lawyers working directly under Nakamura, and she had only started working there a few short years ago. She was also still on the list of suspects, Enji remembered somewhat dejectedly, trying to push the thought away.

Inari was on the other side of the room leaning against the counter. He bowed politely. His eyes seemed more exhausted than Enji remembered them. "Good morning, sir," he greeted calmly, "Would you like coffee?"

"Thanks," he took the offered beverage and busied himself for a few moments pouring sugar and milk in it.

"We knew of course," Nakamura started, "that you would be released from the hospital yesterday, but we thought you might spend the first days at home." He looked to Inari, waiting for the man to nod in the affirmative before he cheerfully went on. "Of course, it is very good to see you here so soon. Are your injuries maybe healing better than we hoped?"

Enji smiled a longsuffering smile. "I spent the night here," he explained honestly. No need to lie about that fact. "Turns out my home is swarming with paparazzi."

"Ah," sighed Nakamura wistfully. "That is maybe smarter. Then I take it you haven't spoken to the press yet. Yes, yes, we must find a strategy regarding the…issue."

Of course Enji had expected this, so he didn't feel a need to answer. Instead he found his gaze drawn to the young legal assistant who was staring almost dumbfoundedly at his scar, before she realized Enji had caught her staring. She coughed slightly, then turned her eyes away.

"We have already come up with some ideas," Nakamura prattled on.

"What do you suggest?" asked Enji, looking back to the head of his legal department.

"It would be most preferable if we could get Natsuo to deny the truth of these accusations." He nodded curtly. "Just a bunch of lies by the League to discredit…" He stopped as he saw the way Enji looked at him, then he sighed as if in surrender. "Well, if that isn't an option…you have only really three options: deny the accusations, admit them at least to a degree or do nothing. If you don't want to deny them…In my opinion doing nothing would be by far the worst."

"So, they are true?" asked the younger lawyer. She didn't sound disbelieving, just maybe a bit disappointed, Enji thought.

Enji shrugged. "Not everything, of course, Ide-san," he explained. "But the diary is Natsuo's."

"He was thirteen at the time," Nakamura thought out loud. "Even if he wrote this, much of it may still not be the entire truth, but only his perspective, so we…"

"I will not have my son's credibility get dragged through the mud because of this," Enji declared decidedly. "Of course, his account and my account of the events may differ." He looked at his hand for a moment, stirring the coffee. "But I won't excuse my actions by telling people he was just too young or too stupid to see what I was actually doing. I did these things. The least I could do—" His jaw snapped shut suddenly. He was talking himself into a rage against people who weren't at fault. It wasn't just that it was wrong, it also felt empty. Empty rage directed at nothing and nobody but himself.

"So," Nakamura glanced at his two colleagues in the room. "I take it you want to step forward and admit to your mistakes."

Enji stared at him for a moment. "Yes," he answered but then he made a helpless gesture. "I don't know."

He heard a sudden snort coming from Inari. The sound was so unexpected that both Nakamura and Ide stared at the usually calm and collected secretary with sheer bafflement. Enji, however, avoided his gaze. "I thought I had told you that the next time we met you'd come up with a strategy to not have this effect our agency."

Enji nodded tiredly. "Yes, and I didn't. I also remember you said you'd visit again. So, I guess we both didn't do what you wanted."

Inari stared at him angrily. "I had to make a decision for myself," he admitted through clenched teeth, "I apologize that I didn't feel like visiting you in that time."

The hero in the room nodded stiffly. "So, did you make your decision?" he gritted out.

"I'm not sure, yet," Inari admitted in a passively aggressive tone. "But if it goes the way it does, I might not even need to make a decision myself. You'll make the decision for me, when you steer our agency over the edge." He pushed away from the counter and past Enji, out of the small room.

Angrily, Enji glowered after his secretary. "He's overreacting," he declared, looking back to frowning faces.

"I apologize," Nakamura said with a tactful bow, "but Inari-san isn't just overreacting."

Endeavor stared at him in surprise, then his eyes shortly flickered over to Ide, who looked equally serious. "You're serious?" he asked dumbfoundedly, "I was only gone for a week."

"A bad week for the agency," Nakamura admitted tiredly. "Maybe you could follow me to my office?"

Endeavor hesitated only a moment, then he took his cup of coffee and followed the two lawyers to Nakamura's office, fearing what he may find out now.

Nakamura's office was always a bit messy, Enji thought not for the first time when he entered the room. His chief lawyer was surely a shrewd and intelligent man, but a bit chaotic, too. He also obviously preferred working with paper rather than just on the computer leading to his big office being overloaded and positively crammed with shelves full of legal codes, commentaries, and a myriad of ring binders, files and folders stacked and filling just about every inch of the room. Even though the room wasn't much smaller than Enji's own office, Nakamura's always felt a little cramped.

"Sir," Nakamura waved him over to a stack of neatly sorted papers in four big ring binders. "Over here."

Endeavor glanced over at the different folders, not sure what they all entailed.

"Since the story regarding your…family history hit the news," Ide started explaining. "We have 34 people quitting already. Most of which are interns, seasonal workers or recent recruits. So, we may be able to survive that loss. But there is a bigger group of currently 51 people who requested a period of absence while the scandal is ongoing. That is ignoring the 22 people who had already asked for a vacation period before this whole mess started. Of the 51 employees, most of them name the media attention distracting them from their work or ethical consideration as their reasons for requesting leave. We assume that several of them will decide to quit later on." She scowled darkly. "And that's just the start. Should the public find out that there is some truth to these allegations…" she left the scenario open for his imagination.

Enji nodded tightly. He had already been aware of this, if not – maybe – of how bad it was. "What else?"

"The second big issue," Nakamura now took over the conversation, "is that several of the negotiations we currently had with people trying to hire our agency for cases, security or guard jobs, were suddenly cut short. Of course, we still have our contract with the city of Musutafu. But you know that financially and economically speaking, those public contracts aren't the most beneficial."

Enji nodded knowingly. As a pro-hero, Endeavor could work, hero and patrol wherever he liked. However, just like any other hero, he was contracted and paid for by a specific city-in his case, Musutafu. While the pro-hero work consisted primarily of patrolling districts of whatever city or cities one happened to have a contract with, it wasn't exactly the most profitable job. The best money heroes could earn was with private or public clients asking them to track down one villain or another. Sometimes it wasn't even fighting a villain but solving a criminal case that the police hadn't been able to solve, finding a missing person…or even just appearing in a school or club to entertain some kids.

There were even specific jobs where, in some rare cases, pro-heroes could get paid threefold for one and the same job. There was an award by the government for any apprehended villain, sometimes on top of that a bounty on a certain villain and then a hero would also get paid on top of that by whatever client contracted them to take down said villain.

Those were the cases Endeavor made most of his money with. Of course, if less people contracted the agency, that would be bad.

"So, we lost business partners?" he asked worriedly.

"Not yet, thankfully," Nakamura answered. "Those who already signed a contract haven't backed out of them so far. But we lost future business partners, mostly. And we may not be able to refresh old contracts running out."

"How bad?" asked Enji frowning.

"Last week we closed 25 % fewer contracts than average. That is…," Nakamura coughed slightly, "our all-time average. We have fewer new contracts than even before you reached the #1 position."

For a moment Enji just stared at Nakamura, then he nodded silently. What was there to say? They had lost employees, clients… "What else?" he asked, gritting his teeth, almost regretting already that he had even asked.

"There was a sharp incline in lawsuits and complaints." Nakamura said. "If I'm honest, I'm not even sure our team can deal with all of those with just us three." Enji frowned at his implied notion that they needed more lawyers. Nakamura had been asking for an expansion of his department for as long as Enji could remember. Never mind that Ide herself, who still stood by Nakamura's side, was herself a rather recent addition to the agency's legal team. "Most of those will probably be baseless," Nakamura explained reassuringly. "But not all of them, and we have to get through them all, and fast, before the press can get a hold of these complaints and drag us through the mud using baseless accusations. However, it seems after your loss in public approval ratings, people seem determined to get some money out of you, as long as the agency still exists." He tapped one of the bigger folders. "I haven't had time to go through all of these, yet, but there are even some trying to get you to pay for damages caused during your fight against the High-End Nomu just three weeks ago, and even the Kamino Ward and Hosu incidents. They're all rather weak claims and…if you ask me rather bold if not disrespectful to even try," he shrugged, "but it is what it is."

"Well," Enji answered after another moment, thinking that was all of it, when Ide started talking again.

"On top of that we have several messages by the Pro-Hero Association that they will start an investigation." Enji swallowed his shock. He had thought that was all of it. "In the worst case, this could cost you your hero license, effectively shutting down our agency."

"If you lose your license," Nakamura added thoughtfully, pointing to the stack of law suits, "that doesn't mean those just go away."

Enji finally groaned angrily. This was getting worse and worse. Couldn't they feed him the bad news a bit at a time? "It has been one week," he repeated his prior sentiment disbelievingly. How could his whole world that he had worked for for so long fall apart in such a short time? How could he fall apart so quickly with seemingly no resistance?

"A very eventful week," Ide sighed with a surprisingly kind smile. "We're trying our best, but…," she shrugged, "as it is with hero agencies their good work and success is intricately tied to the hero whose name is written on the front. Have you checked your public approval ratings recently, sir?"

Talk about kicking a man when he's down, Enji thought annoyed. "No, Ide-san. But I reckon they aren't very good."

"If the trend keeps as it is, in two weeks, you'll have negative public approval ratings. And," she added. And now Endeavor thought her smile maybe wasn't kind but rather cynical, to the point of rather a bit gleeful, even if he didn't think she meant any offense. "And should the Billboard Charts then decide to publicize a new Top Pro-Hero list, I fear, sir, you'd only find yourself on position four."

Endeavor smiled humorlessly. "Well, I guess, I can be rather proud, that I still even make the Top five with negative public approval ratings."

"Yes, sir," she nodded in approval.

"So, what do we do?" asked Endeavor finally looking from Ide to Nakamura and back to the younger woman.

"Nothing is worse than doing nothing here," declared Nakamura. "If you don't want to deny the accusations," he glanced at Endeavor questioningly who only shook his head mutely, "the best course of action would be to admit them, issue a public apology, and play the repentant sinner."

How fitting, Enji thought tiredly. Wasn't that what he was?

"Of course, there will be a large part of the population doubting your repentance. And since there are more and more accusations being made against you by the second, the media won't be happy with you just admitting to the things written in Natsuo's diary. In fact, I bet there will be those who are already convinced that you did all the bad things in the world they say you did. We just have to hope that most people are smarter than that."

Enji nodded. He didn't plan to admit to anything he hadn't done. "What about the legal repercussions of admitting?" he asked.

"As long as we only stick to the stuff written in Natsuo's diary, that shouldn't be a problem. Sadly, we couldn't get a copy of it, at least not yet. We should acquire it though, just to make certain. But so far, from what I've heard, it's hardly enough to get any actual criminal charges from those diary entries. They are short, sometimes convoluted, a bit irregular and mostly superficial in their description. While they…," Nakamura hesitated for a second, "While they show you to be a horrible father, behaving abhorrently towards your own children," Enji took the insult in stride though his facial expression twitched in shock at the sudden bluntness, "there are hardly any legally relevant accusations in the diary."

"I thought," Enji answered, surprised, "somebody on one of the channels I watched seemed convinced there were some legal grounds for criminal charges in those pages."

"I'm certain if it comes to a lawsuit, I can get you out of any criminal charges," Nakamura assured. "Of course, that is, if what Natsuo explained in his diary is more or less the extent of it. Even more so, as it seems that none of your children nor your wife is currently willing to speak up against you."

"But if I were to admit to it," Enji asked again.

"Well, you would admit to what? Not treating your children with the love and care you should have? Training Shoto harshly? Being a terrible role model? A failing marriage. Most of that isn't legally relevant. There are no accounts of injuries inflicted by you on any of them, no accounts that they went hungry or anything…The law can't force you to love and spend time with your children. And especially for children with a powerful quirk, harsh training is often not just normal but deemed necessary. Apart from that the events detailed in the diary happened at least six years ago."

For a moment Enji stared at the lawyer disbelievingly. Legally irrelevant? Of course, he knew quite a bit about the law-he was a hero after all. But he hadn't exactly spent much time getting into domestic abuse laws. But it seemed ridiculous, Enji thought, that he could have treated his family like that, with all the horrible consequences his behavior had, and yet the law said nothing against his actions? He had thought that maybe too much time had lapsed between the events in Natsuo's diary and now, that it wasn't relevant anymore, but to think that maybe it had never been...

"Okay," Enji said finally and slowly. "So, what else?"

"Of course, all of that doesn't apply to the Pro-Hero Association," declared Nakamura. "They can and may still confiscate, suspend or retract your license. As a hero, you're supposed to be a model citizen, and while they can certainly forgive some misconduct…there have been instances where they didn't."

"It is unlikely, I think," explained Ide, "that they'll just take your license completely. But they may hold the threat over your head to force you to behave, maybe even get something out of you. With All Might gone and the League of Villains still active, never mind just generally increased villain activity since All Might's retirement, they can't really afford to lose you now. But they also can't afford to not have you suffer any consequences. That would only strengthen Stain's ideology and push more people to villainy and the League."

"I understand." He looked between the two lawyers. "So, what about my family?" For a moment it seemed like the two didn't know what he was thinking. "I'd like to keep them out of this as much as possible. Not have them involved with the press." He couldn't imagine they would like this scandal shaping the next few years of their lives. It was maybe too late for him to protect them, now that they were mostly adults and strong in their own right, but he would still try if he could.

"Well," Ide thought out loud, "it would be preferable if you could get them to make a joint statement with you. If you could all back the same story."

"You want me to…make them back my version of events?" Enji mumbled undecidedly.

Ide didn't answer immediately. Instead, she looked at Enji almost pitifully. "It's your decision of course," she relented. "Having all of you on the same side would be better for you and the agency. However, it might not be the best course of action for your family relations."

"I would prefer you all backing the same story," said Nakamura decidedly. "You employ me mostly to do what is best for the agency. But in any case, I at least implore you to talk to them." He sighed, looking at his employer for a moment of thoughtful hesitation. "For as long as they don't say anything to the media, that's just as well. But the way they are besieged by paparazzi and journalists, sooner or later they will break their silence. You know as well as I do that should they then say something damning against you, that's it." He nodded decidedly. "At the moment, the public and media sympathy is mostly with your children. But if they turn against you, just one-or worse-all three of them, then there is no saving the situation. It will be the end of your career and this agency."

* * *

A/N: Alright

This was kind of difficult. I've tried to research the japanese legal system to find out what Enji has to face realistically. There's a thing called 'language barrier' though... so that was inconclusive and I just went with my guts trying to make it at least sound realistic and sensible.

I hope I didn't disappoint anybody who hoped Enji would get thrown in prison... I know there are many who think he can only be redemed once he faced a judge. However I felt like not only were legal consequences not the most fitting for my story but also rather unrealistic...

Maybe if his kids actually wanted to press charges himself this would be different, but I don't feel like there's enough for authorities to start investigating on their own. Keep in mind that even with Natsuo's diary (which is rather vague in its writing style and details) those events are six years at least past, whatever happened to Rei was at least ten years past... so all the information the police have is really about things that happened half a decade or more ago.

I hope the arguments of the Lawyers sounded at least somewhat reasonable if not very sympathetic.


	17. Home

**Home**

Coming home wasn't a pleasant experience. Then again, he had already expected as much.

First, he had hoped to just be able to sneak in late in the evening, but this hope had been crushed when he had been too tired, exhausted and hurting from his injuries that he hadn't been able to hide it anymore. Inari had insisted he went home to rest and only come back to work when he was actually ready to climb a few stairs by himself without keeling over shortly after.

He had managed to stay in the office without any of his employees complaining, before Matsuura came into the building after the Todoroki had previously given him the morning off.

So, on this bright Tuesday noon, as soon as Matsuura arrived, Enji made to go home.

Of course, it was the middle of the day and sneaking into his own house in broad daylight while it was surrounded by camera teams was an impossible feat for a man of his size. He also couldn't just order Matsuura to drive over the people forcing his way through using the car.

Instead, he let the man park outside the mass of people, and shouldered his way through to his door, making deliberate use of his elbows without injuring anybody. He used the collar of his coat to hide his face as he pressed through the outcry of enraged men and women, ducking away from the many cameras but inevitably being caught on them anyway. There were just too many cameras to avoid them all, and he knew already before he even reached his front door that within the next few minutes, news stations all over the country would show clips of how he bullied his way through the flock of journalists and paparazzi.

All of that was bad enough. Still, that discomfort was beaten by the eyrie silence that greeted him in an empty house, proving to him with final evidence that Fuyumi had indeed left, and he was alone in the great house, alone on the premises… apart, that was, of course from the vultures of the media.

They were still making noise outside, he heard. Maybe they made live reports to their news channels about his arrival, or they were just talking and gossiping among themselves. He wished they would leave him alone, wished for some other scandal or crisis to distract them.

He was tired, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep in this disconcerting mix of lonely silence in the house and the curious buzzing around the place. So instead of going to his own bedroom, he walked to his children's rooms.

There were still some things of Natsuo's childhood in the boy's room upstairs. Some books he may have read as a child – Enji of course wouldn't know – an old ball haphazardly thrown into the corner, papers and pencils on the table, and some origami figurines on a dresser. There was a soccer cup he had won with his school team some ten years ago, and a bunch of papers stored away in folders. There was a bit of latent chaos in the room. The room of a teenager who didn't live here, and only rarely visited, but never long enough to actually tidy his room anymore. He had taken most of his stuff to his college dormitory, so the room had this weird atmosphere of being 'moved out of', while still having somebody occasionally living in it.

Shoto's room, on the other hand, was clean and neat. There wasn't much left of the childhood that he may or may not have lived here once. Truth be told, Enji hardly remembered if the boy had had much of a childhood, if he had had many toys, and if so, he couldn't find them now. There was a neat stack of books, some of his old school things in a drawer, an All Might figurine and a framed picture of the boy with his mother on the table. There were also some devices used by Shoto in his training, neatly placed in a corner where it was slowly collecting dust since the boy had moved to the UA dorms.

He hesitated shortly before he glanced into Fuyumi's room. It was empty, and Fuyumi had obviously made an effort to leave it in a tidy place. She had also apparently tried to move out of the house completely. There was hardly anything of his daughter left in the room, only a handful of old books. Among which were a collection of mythological fairy tales for children that Endeavor remembered he had read to Fuyumi and Touya on occasion, back when he had still made an effort to be a decent father. Before Shoto was even born. He didn't know if it was a statement by Fuyumi to leave the book behind or if maybe she had just forgotten it or didn't even remember the nights when Enji had read to them after a late night at work when he came home and realized in surprise that his young children hadn't been able to fall asleep, yet.

Whether it was deliberately left behind to send a message or whether it was just an accident or coincidence, it still broke Enji's heart to see it left here with some of Fuyumi's other more boring children's stories. For a few long moments, Enji just stared at the small stack of books on the shelves, before he took the book that had caught his attention and took it with him. Maybe Fuyumi wouldn't have approved of her father taking her books out of her own room, but Enji just couldn't bear leaving it forgotten on the shelves with all those other meaningless books, as if it didn't hold significance to Enji himself, treasuring some of his most precious moments.

After that, there was only Touya's room left. Outside the door, Enji hesitated for longer than necessary. When had he last been in here? He wondered as he finally slid the door open.

He was greeted by the familiar chaos of a teenager's room. Ironically with all his children having moved out by now, this room looked the most lived in of all. Even with the layer of dust on the shelves the futon and the desk, over the computer keyboard and gaming console, the books, the papers, the stereo, Touya's own collection of beautiful stones he had collected over the years, his discarded violin, and a model railroad packed away in a carton in the corner. There were posters of rock bands on the walls, an All Might and a Crimson Riot figurine on a shelf, and an award for some school science contest next to it.

Numbly and for the first time in what felt like forever, Enji Todoroki stepped into his son's room, the book he had once read to him and Fuyumi still in his hand. Tiny clouds of dust puffed from the floor mats with every step he took. He put the book next to him on the desk as he set down on the chair heavily.

His gaze trailed over the tatami floor and the white paper walls. Apart from the dust and the sense of it being still lived in if it weren't for the dust, the room was mostly tidy and neat. He remembered he had ordered a housemaid to clean up in here shortly after Touya's death, but he had never come around to actually throwing the boy's stuff out. Now, as a result, the picture painted an old and dusty image of who his son had been, back when had been… back when he hadn't been Dabi the villain, yet.

Touya had been a smart child, idealistic, energetic, and with a youthful kind of charm that made most people like him, but that also sometimes made him seem childish or exuberant. At least that was what Enji remembered of the kid. As a teenager, he thought Touya had gotten a lot quieter, but he wasn't sure. The father himself hadn't been around that much for Touya's later years. He still remembered that the teenager had had the same energetic edge to him, that he already had as a kid, even after he grew calmer and more distanced. Sometimes Touya had been a bit…over the top. A bit too loud, too enthusiastic, too energetic or too angry depending on the situation. Sometimes they had had an argument and then he had exploded in righteous rage seemingly out of nowhere. It had caused some distress both at home and in school, Enji remembered, because there was a certain danger of him losing control of his quirk in these moments even then, potentially hurting his friends, his siblings, or himself.

Himself. Enji now knew that should have been the biggest concern, as it seems the boy had almost killed himself on accident with his quirk, disfiguring himself. Back then, Enji hadn't really even thought this a possibility. Sure, it wasn't rare that one could get hurt from his own quirk, but life threateningly? Enji had always thought the risk of him accidentally hurting Natsuo or Fuyumi while they were playing cops and robbers outside or something like that, had been the bigger danger.

Memories of a dead son. Not dead, he reminded himself at once, just…

Not dead, but gone regardless. The kid who had lived here was no more. Dabi wasn't the same person Touya had been. He hardly even looked like him anymore and his righteous enthusiasm had yielded to a twisted rage.

The hand on the gun, the barrel against his head and those damning words.

Was it wrong of him, that he felt like Touya was dead now more so than before?

He remembered the scars on his face and the dyed hair and how Dabi was looking at him with burning hatred.

Suddenly he jumped up from the chair, knocking it sideways. Furiously, he grabbed the next best thing he could get his hands on, throwing his son's old pencil case to the ground. One second later he had his keyboard in his hands ripping it away from the desk so that the cable between the keyboard and computer snapped with the force. He screamed as he threw it against the wall.

And then he just stood there staring. The wood and paper interior walls of his house weren't made to withstand his strength, and the keyboard effortlessly smashed through it until he could hear it clatter to the ground in the neighboring room. He stared dumbly at the hole wondering where his rage had gone all of a sudden. It was just there! Even his flames had flickered to life for a moment, but now it was dead again. Gone with his fire.

He shuffled over the tatami floorboards to the futon bed, leaving the chair still knocked sideways scattered across the room. He could feel the by now familiar ache of his wounds as he knelt down on the bed, not really knowing what he was even doing here but too tired to move anywhere else.

He felt awfully numb. Even the pain of his injuries could only barely ground him in reality. Suddenly, his fingertips graced over a hard edge somewhere under the years old bedding, and he pulled a magazine out from under the blanket. He disbelievingly stared down at the cover picture of a scantily clad young model that must have been quite famous some five years ago, but he hardly remembered her now.

A teenager's room, he reminded himself and suddenly he started chuckling irrationally.

His fingers tightened minutely around the magazine. His seventeen year old son and now he was gone but not really, and somehow Enji needed to find the words to come up with a statement to explain the depth of his sin to the public…if he couldn't even find the words in private with only himself, how could he tell anybody, most of all, how could he tell his children?

What words were there to describe what he had done to the people most precious to him?

He was still chuckling, laughing almost madly as he hunched down in sheer agony until he bowed with the face against the futon the magazine discarded to the side. He wasn't laughing anymore. Instead he found his tears sponged up by the dusty bedding, and his breaths hiccupping quickly and painfully until he found one single long breath. Then he screamed his agony, his rage, his self-hatred and self-pity into the world, muffled the outcry against the futon and the bedding until he remained tired and exhausted.

* * *

I'm kind of sorry. I really wanted to go all in with he plot now, but somehow once Enji got home, he didn't want to move anymore. So, he kind of developed a life of his own...only a very slow life apparently.  
I hope it's not off-putting that the plot doesn't progress as fast as you may have wished.


	18. The Tired Man's Plight

Hi,

so sorry for the long wait! I was preoccupied with work and university stuff and didn't really get around do post this even though I had already written it out.

Updates will probably be slow until the end of October. I hope after that I can accellerate the posting schedule again.

* * *

 **The Tired Man's Plight**

When he had first gone home, he had done so with the expressed plan to write down a statement. Get some rest, then make the statement and come back to work within the week. Instead, back home he found his minutes running into hours, his hours running into days.

For well over a week he could live from the food in the house until he was down to noodles or rice with no sides, but a man can even survive on just that. The journalists and paparazzi were camping outside his home, and he thought maybe they had nothing better to do. There were fewer now than on the first day, but there were still enough that he didn't want to step outside the house. They were waiting, he knew.

For what they waited exactly, he didn't know. For a statement or for him to embarrass himself, or maybe until he had died in his house, wasting away after he had run out of food.

He didn't want to waste away the way he did. He had started training on his first few days, but moving was difficult; even more so after the painkillers the doctors had given him ran out, and he didn't want to go to the pharmacy to buy new ones. The pain was a bad deterrent from his training, worse, however, was the constant failure.

His quirk didn't work the way it should. He could still produce the flames, though only with some effort and embarrassing failure every now and then, but he could still use it. He hadn't lost his quirk. But it didn't seem as strong as it used to. Even when he tried to force his flames out, they fizzled away way too quickly and never reached heat levels he hadn't had trouble with since he was a teenager.

The idea that his quirk was failing him was the most depressing of all. So there were days when he was in a bad mood, when he didn't even dare enter the dojo, because he knew it wouldn't work and that would only be more depressing than never trying in the first place. Sometimes he did some push-ups then, or lifted some weights, used the treadmill, to do at least something despite the constant pain. Sometimes, however, he didn't do anything.

Every day he took his pen and sat over an empty sheet of paper writing out words for a statement, only to find them inevitably wanting.

He couldn't get back to work before he had drafted a statement, he knew. It would throw a bad light on the agency – an even worse light anyway – if he came back to work without anybody ever addressing the elephant in the room that was his history of domestic abuse. However, those words alone stuck in his throat and refused to come out of the pen and so he couldn't write a statement and couldn't get back to work.

At least, it wasn't much of a loss for the agency, he told himself, because he wouldn't be of use anyway without his quirk working the way it should. He was embarrassingly weak.

He found himself watching the news a lot, not the still regular but not anymore constant reports about him, but just the general news. Villain activity was soaring and every vile act, he felt, was his fault. If not because the soaring villain activity was his fault in the first place, then surely because he wasn't there to stop it. Instead he was sitting around, doing nothing.

But, doing nothing had an odd allure to it, a strangely addictive nature.

In his first days back home, he had tried busying himself. Training, cooking, working on a statement, working on finding the traitor, calling his own office to ask for any reports, making sure the patrols were organized, making sure he was up to date regarding the agency. However, after a while he lost purpose. His list of suspects in his agency had slowly but surely dwindled away, leaving him with nothing, thinking his instincts may have been wrong after all and there wasn't a traitor at all. His stack of failed attempts at writing a statement was flooding the bin in his home office. Whatever was happening at the agency, there wasn't much he could do about it anyway. His training ended in failure until he was too afraid to even risk failing anymore.

At a certain point, just doing nothing was easier than trying and failing. So instead, he started wallowing. He wasn't the type for this self-pity, he told himself, he hated it, but not enough apparently to end it.

It was pathetic! He was pathetic. The dictionary definition for pathetic, he was sure, should be changed to read 'Enji Todoroki'.

"After so many years, it has taken All Might retiring for me to see…" he stared down at the last words he had written for his umptieth attempt at drafting a statement. This one was already several paragraphs long and now suddenly he found his mind empty with words, as if he had put too many down on paper and now, he was all out of them. What had he seen? What was it again that had changed his perspective?

His gaze flickered to the stack of discarded drafts. Ramblings, excuses, justifications, denials, periphrases and extenuations, he had written them all down dozens of times. This statement, he assumed belonged to the category 'ramblings'. No good again.

When before he had been angry at any failed attempt, now, he only crumbled the sheet of paper tiredly and threw it to the others staring blankly at the brilliantly white page below it, not knowing the words with which to taint it.

He had to apologize. He knew that. But he hadn't known how much 'apologizing' could hurt.

Suddenly he was distracted by the ringing doorbell. Surprised, he looked up then he jumped up from his place at the table, hurrying towards the main door.

If the last few weeks had done one good thing, it was that his wounds were healing more every day. It still hurt, but by now he had healed enough that moving around without any help whatsoever was bearable even without painkillers.

Who was ringing? He allowed a small flicker of hope that maybe one of his children had decided to visit, but he quenched that hope shortly after. He always hoped to see them when somebody rang, but it was never them. Mostly it was the media people asking for an interview, apparently getting tired of waiting around without anything else to do. He wouldn't even open the door for them.

He came to a halt in front of the door and looked through the peephole. For a moment he thought he didn't see right, when he spied All Might standing in front of his house in his weak and scrawny form waiting patiently. Then, he thought of Shoto.

The last time All Might had visited, he had just brought Shoto over so maybe he was… but he couldn't see Shoto anywhere through the limited view of the peephole. Trying not to have too high hopes that would only be disappointed, he opened the door.

"All Might," he greeted gruffly, looking at the man for only a moment before he glanced past him down the walkway. No Shoto, he noticed dejectedly, only the paparazzi pushing closer, even entering the premises to get a good look at him and All Might. He blinked at the sudden onslaught of camera flashlights. "What a—"

Suddenly, a big fist hit him square in the jaw. In shock, Enji stumbled backwards holding his chin. "What the—!?" he bellowed outraged as he stared back at All Might who now stood in front of him in his full All Might-y glory. He hadn't even seen the former number one transform as Enji had blinked against the camera lights.

"Don't you dare ask what this was for!" groaned All Might. "How da-agh."

Enji instinctively caught his former rival as the man suddenly stumbled through the door, shrinking back to his sick form.

"Todoroki-san!" he heard some journalist shout over the loud masses. "A comment about—" but Enji just closed the door in his face as soon as he had dragged All Might inside who was bleeding from his mouth and nose.

"How dare you do this to your own children!" groaned All Might, but he was still so exhausted from the transformation that Enji could barely even understand what he was saying. "You're supposed to be a hero! An idol to the people, but you…"

"Don't push yourself," warned Enji genuinely concerned for his former rival's well-being as he helped the man to the living room and then sat him down on the couch. "I'll get you something to drink."

He went into the kitchen rubbing his jaw. Even buff All Might by now was so weak, that while his punch had hurt, Enji hadn't even lost his balance over it. The man was waning quickly. How long until he wouldn't be able to transform at all.

For a moment he busied himself in the kitchen, putting off the moment when he would have to face his former nemesis again, but in the end, it didn't take long to make some tea.

"So," Enji started awkwardly as he put a cup of tea in front of All Might and handed him a handkerchief to wipe away the blood. "What brings you here?" he asked somewhat cynically. "You're the first one to visit in over two weeks. Had you called maybe I would have gotten something to eat." He gave All Might a self-deprecating smile, reminding himself that he had just about nothing edible left in the house.

"I don't need your hospitality," muttered All Might wiping away the blood. "I wanted to visit earlier," he then admitted glancing up at Enji who was still towering over him. "But back then I didn't really know what the truth was. I didn't want to believe it."

Enji nodded with clenched teeth. "So, what changed your mind?" he asked dreading the answer a little.

"I had an…enlightening conversation with young Todoroki." He looked up at the elder Todoroki with judgement in his eyes. "I can't believe you would… We are supposed to be heroes and examples for society."

Enji nodded quietly. He turned half away from All Might, glancing shortly at the door wishing he could just leave or – better yet – throw All Might out of the house, but instead he turned to a commode and busied himself moving some picture frames without even really looking at them.

There was a growling sound from All Might on the couch. "At least look at me, Todoroki!" he bellowed angrily. Enji didn't remember when he had last seen All Might so angry. "How dare you turn away from this! They are your children and you…"

"I told you," he defended himself, his fingers curling against a picture frame. "I told you what I did!" He turned back at All Might in sudden rage. "Don't act as if you hadn't known! It wasn't ex—" He suddenly stopped in shame that he was actually trying to shift some of the blame to All Might. The blond man seemed to think similarly, as he glared back at Enji in fury, jumping from the couch.

"I'm sorry," muttered Enji as he pursed his lips shamefully and turned back to the commode so he wouldn't have to see All Might's furious judgement.

"You told me you had trained him to surpass me. Not that you…" it seemed like All Might had trouble forming the words. "Not that you forced him to train to the point of exhaustion, to the point where he would start vomiting. That you forced his mother to watch until she snapped so you had her taken away. That you isolated him from his siblings." All Might took an angry breath. "Touya was gone and you didn't even care for their—"

"He was my son, too!" roared Enji suddenly against the empty wall cutting All Might off. The words had just slipped past his lips unplanned. "I mean…I," he stammered overwhelmed. "I know," he finally admitted. "I…"

He was all out of words as he stared down at his hands clawing helplessly at the wood of the commode.

"You know?" All Might asked doubtfully. There was a moment in which he apparently waited for something else, but Enji didn't know what to say. "If you know, what are you still doing here?"

Enji bowed his head in shame. He knew that particular accusation. He asked himself the same question every day. He should go out there, do something - apologize, take the reins of his agency, help his children deal with the media attention. Yet instead, he hid away like a coward.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked helplessly.

"I…" All Might's anger seemed suddenly gone. "I see," he muttered after a moment, sitting back down on the couch taking a sip of his tea as if he had come to a sudden epiphany.

"What is it?" Enji asked turning around to frown at him, wondering what the older man was thinking. All Might was only a few years his senior, but he had gone to him before for advice so maybe he could help him with this too. Maybe All Might knew what to do.

"You regret it," All Might just muttered tiredly. "I thought I came here to tell you what an asshole you were. That the way you acted was and is detestable for a hero to act." He smiled wistfully. "I thought, I could come and make you see that you were the villain in this story." Enji scowled unhappily, but he couldn't exactly deny the words. "But you know all this." He made a vague gesture. "Part of me maybe thought that you didn't. That you were just hiding away in self-pity, angry at the media or your children or the world for painting you the devil, waiting until the scandal passes and you can just go back to normal." He glanced down at his tea then back up at Enji. "But that's not it," he declared. "You don't hide because of self-pity, but shame."

Enji found himself staring back at the door for a moment, dreaming once again of fleeing this conversation.

"So, explain it to me," All Might asked.

"What?" Enji raised a disbelieving eyebrow. Explain himself to All Might of all people. No thanks. "This has nothing to do with you!"

"So?" asked All Might almost naively. "Then it should be easy, right?" his blue and black eyes stared up at Enji expectantly. Then he sighed. "Todoroki, if the reason you don't leave the house is because you feel so guilty that you can't face anybody, then maybe it's a good start to just face one person who isn't directly involved, first?" There was something kind and indulgent in All Might's eyes.

Enji stared down at him for a long moment, then he harrumphed angrily. "No, thanks," he groaned.

All Might, however, remained singularly stubborn.

Finally, Enji sighed. "You're not going to give up," he gave in hesitantly. After another moment he at last sat down in the armchair opposite All Might. A sudden thought occurred to him. "I like this version of you better," he muttered under his breath, "At least you're not smiling all the time."

Gods, he had hated that stupid, patronizing smile.


	19. A Tale of Destined Failure

Hello,

First I really need to apologize for the long break. I had stuff to do in September and in the first half of October, but I didn't actually want to make such a long break, but I just didn't get around to spend more time on this project - or really writing in general - than I would have liked. Now, I try to get back into it, but my inspiration and motivation is still lacking a bit. Still! It's time for a new update!

Secondly, ... damn, are you reading this current arc. This is so great, every chapter leaves me happier, and giddier and more excited and with an increasingly bigger smile on my stupid face than the chapter before that. This has all the potential to be - just from an emotional stand-point - my favorite arc to date. For those who don't actually read the Manga (although I think all of you do^^) I don't wanna spoil anything. But it's great. I thought a bit about adding some parts of this arc into this story (like for example the sidekicks) but I decided against it, because that would somewhat interrupt the flow of the story as I have it planned out already. That said, I might draw some inspiration for some scenes from this arc.

So yeah :D That's everything I wanted to say. Sorry again for the long delay, I hope you didn't give up on this story and you like the chapter.

* * *

 **A Tale of Destined Failure**

"You," Enji started, because there really was no other way to start, "actually have a lot to do with this."

All Might looked back at him not understanding and for a moment he was frustrated with how little the man knew.

"I did it because of you." He made a gesture to stop the man from speaking up in anger that Enji would shift the blame to him. "I don't say this to blame you. But… it is what it is, and you asked for the reasons. I told you before. I wanted to make Shoto stronger than you. I put everything on the line to achieve it and I…" he shrugged helplessly, "I went way too far."

All Might scowled at him. Then he shook his head as if in disbelief. "I don't understand. Yes, you told me that you tried to make him stronger to surpass me. But how could that make you overlook what you were doing to your family in the process?" He didn't understand and for a moment there was a familiar anger rushing back at Enji.

"I didn't just 'try'," he snapped making air quotes beside his head. "I was frustrated. Desperate."

There was an air of confusion from All Might and suddenly Enji's whole life seemed like a meaningless waste. He hadn't even noticed. Not once… But of course he hadn't. All Might, the great Symbol of Peace, even now he was ignorant to what his very existence was doing to Enji Todoroki, the second strongest hero always trailing in his shadow.

"You don't get it," he muttered almost amused if it weren't so gut-wrenchingly crushing, like a physical kick in the balls. He couldn't even be angry with All Might, it had been Endeavor's own fault that he had never been strong enough to make him see. "Of course, you don't," he admitted finally, "you never did."

"Explain it, then," All Might asked curious and patient at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah," muttered Enji trying to remember.

It was all so long ago. The story of his life, really. The story of his failure.

"When I first entered UA, you were already a pro-hero," he started his tale. "You just came back from your time in the US and… Well, you weren't the #1 yet and you weren't the Symbol of Peace, but you would be soon." Enji took his own cup of tea that he had put down besides All Might's, but he didn't drink from it. He just needed something to do with his hands. "When I was young, I always wanted to be the strongest. The #1. With my quirk it should be fairly easy, that's at least what I thought when I grew up. And in UA I was the best. The strongest, by far, even."

He waited for a moment. For what? He didn't know, maybe a question or a comment, but All Might just quietly sipped from his beverage. Enji, too, took a small sip.

"I already knew about you before I graduated. Everybody did. They said, I could never beat you, but I swore to myself that I would never stop trying." He shrugged. "It was my endeavor."

"Endeavor," All Might finally said something. He coughed suddenly as if in his surprise he had choked on a bit of tea. "Your name."

Enji nodded tiredly. "My hero name," he affirmed. It had been a promise, a pledge to himself and the world that he would surpass All Might and become the #1 hero. Back then he had just been young and ambitious, and with all his prior experience in 'always being the best at everything', he had thought it would be easy enough.

How wrong he had been.

"I hadn't known," muttered All Might with a frown.

"Of course not," Enji said self-deprecatingly, "I was just a young graduate. You were the #1 hero and the Symbol of Peace. You hardly even noticed me."

"Of course, I did," defended All Might indignantly. "You were the youngest #2 in history."

Enji shrugged and waved what was probably meant as a compliment away with a gesture of his hand. "Sure, then you noticed. But you didn't know before. Why would you. By then I was twenty and hardly anyone ever wonders what made established heroes choose their hero names."

He took another sip of his tea waiting for All Might to retort something, but the blond didn't this time. "Alright," he started again. "So, you see. I wanted to surpass you. But I couldn't." He had told that part before during Shoto's provisional license training. "It didn't matter how hard I tried you were always ahead. Not just one step, even. There was a chasm between us, and while I tried everything to bridge it, I could only watch it grow even wider."

He stopped as a weird noise came from All Might. Was the former #1 squirming?

"I…," he made a vague gesture not at all sure what he wanted to say and how much. "I couldn't stop trying. I made this pledge to myself that I wouldn't ever stop. When my mom…," he cut himself off.

The memory of his mother at her deathbed when she had finally succumbed to her failing sickness when he was thirteen, telling him that he shouldn't ever give up on his dream, that he had everything he needed to make it reality, was entirely too private to just share it with All Might of all people.

"Anyway," he started again, not even giving All Might the opportunity to ask what he had wanted to say earlier. "I couldn't stop. I told myself, if I just tried harder, worked harder, trained harder, I'd make it. At some point, if I never gave up, I thought, I'd inevitably make it… But I didn't." He hunched in on himself in shameful admission of his failure. "Instead of getting closer, I lost ground. We were ever further apart."

"As I told you," he nodded to himself. "When I was twenty, I knew it with certainty. I knew I would never reach you." He nodded again as if to reassure himself, that this was already reality and just admitting it, didn't make it more real. "I realized that, no matter how hard I tried, no matter if I never gave up trying, I would never reach you. I wouldn't even come close." He looked at All Might now, who was finally staring at him with something like understanding. Maybe he finally got it. Maybe he could finally see past this distant friendship he had always assumed existed between them. "But I couldn't just give up."

He put his tea cup aside for now, because he realized his hands were shaking with a shadow of his old rage. "I was desperate. Frustrated… Crushed. Everybody loved you, even my own sons, but I… hated you," he almost laughed now as he said it, because the sentiment itself sounded so ridiculous. Yet instead of laughing, it was as if he talked himself into a rant. "I hated everything you stood for. Every Top Ten Hero celebration when again and again, I'd be just the #2 as if I sat glued to that spot. I solved more cases than you, apprehended more villains, saved more people, and yet… I hated your stupid smile. You did things I couldn't imagine doing… Not just that… Things that I knew I could never do, and you did them smiling as if it were effortless." He breathed deeply. "I saw you as my rival. The man I needed to surpass, the man I strived to become, the strongest man in Japan. But to you… I wasn't. Maybe that was the most infuriating thing of all."

"Todoroki," All Might whispered as if lost for words. He had been similarly quiet when Endeavor had asked him for advice during Shoto's provisional license training, Enji remembered. Back then too, Enji had tried to fill the silence with words. He wasn't normally one to talk so much, but now, just like back then, he found himself rambling again.

"Don't deny it. Every time we met, while I could hardly look at you without being reminded of the fact that I still stood thoroughly in your shadow, back on the other side of that chasm with all the other heroes, you just treated me like just another hero. To you, we were never rivals, just colleagues. Friends even." He shrugged staring down at his hands. "Looking back at it, I can't even be angry, really. After all, we were never on the same playing field. Rivals should at least be on the same level, you know? But we weren't. So, we weren't rivals. I couldn't even manage that much."

"That's not true, Todoroki," All Might tried though of course he must know that it was very much so.

Enji laughed, as All Might didn't find an argument as to why it wasn't true, because of course it was. "Don't lie to yourself. You know it, I know it, and the rest of the world knows it too. I could see it in their eyes, I could hear them whisper behind my back. They knew it was a pointless endeavor. Some even thought, my refusal to give up was… amusing."

He looked down at his own lap remembering the constant failure, the years of futile struggle that weren't even that long past. "I hated you… No, rather… I hated the gap between us. And I didn't understand it."

All Might looked at him questioning what he meant.

"You were just a man, and I thought I had a powerful quirk. So why was I so hopelessly outmatched? It didn't make sense. You're just one man, and my failure to even just match your step was inevitable proof of my inadequacies. I…"

All Might coughed suddenly. Enji looked at him in irritation that he would so abruptly fall in his words. The thin man hit his own ribcage a few times, apparently having choked on his tea again, then he whipped some of the liquid from his lips "Todoroki, that is not it." He stared at Endeavor in a mixture of shock, grief, guilt and disbelief.

"What are you on about?" bellowed Enji annoyed that he had to draw every bit of information out him.

"My quirk," All Might explained. "I didn't… I can't tell you, I'm sorry. If I had known what you must have thought, but…" He shook his head helplessly. "I can't tell you, but suffice to say, that my strength wasn't the power of just one man, so if you felt…" He shrugged helplessly, trying and failing to explain his quirk without giving any of his many secrets away.

Enji stared at him for a while, then he shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore," he conceded. "Whatever power your quirk gives you, it's obviously not there anymore."

"But…"

"And I don't care anymore," he admitted, "I have lost too much time and energy obsessing over your power."

All Might nodded in understanding.

"Anyway, I hated my weakness and I hated my quirk." All Might seemed about to ask what it was with his quirk that he hated, since his Hellfire-quirk was rumored to be among the more powerful quirks in Japan, so Enji explained that part without enquiry. "My quirk heats my body, but I myself am not completely invulnerable to heat. So, there's a limit to how hot I can get. It's how I already knew at twenty that I wouldn't beat you. Because at that time I reached the point where forcing my body to store anymore heat, would… Well… Melt my organs."

All Might stared in shock that it was almost comical.

"It's rather unpleasant. I can push my limits. I can train how long I can hold this maximum heat. I can try and use different ways of using the flames that would maybe not heat my body up completely. But in the end, there's always this unbreachable limit, this certain temperature I can't afford to heat beyond because it would inevitably kill me. You know, no matter your lung capacities, or your endurance, or your pain tolerance, or your muscle mass… tissue always melts at the same temperature. I can harden myself against the pain or get used to the fever… but the melting point is fixed, the only exception being my skin." He moved his hand as he spoke as if indicating his skin. "In a prolonged battle, eventually I will always reach that point. So, I started thinking, maybe that was the reason I couldn't get close. I started telling myself, that my quirk, while powerful was also what held me back. This fixed limit to my own strength."

All Might nodded in understanding.

"If there was a quirk opposite to mine, I thought, a cold quirk, maybe I could cool my body down. It wouldn't get rid of the limit, but that way I could prevent myself from ever reaching it. I met Shoto's mother around that time. She had an ice quirk that I thought was perfect." He remembered the first time he had worked with Rei. First, he had thought it was a way to bring himself relief, but then… "It didn't work like that. Rei could cool me of course, but if she did, I stood at just as much of a danger of freezing to death as I would burning to death. It wasn't at all useful in battle of course to have her there, so the best she could offer was some relief after the fighting ended."

He glanced at All Might, then with one swift motion he emptied the cup of tea into his throat. He wished he had some sake instead to maybe gain some courage from it. Now, he finally arrived at the most shameful part of his story.

"But, I thought, if there was a child who could both control my flames, and her ice… or a good mix of both our quirks… they wouldn't have to struggle with my limits. And that child, I hoped, would then be able to defeat you." He looked down at his lap flushing in shame. "I married Rei. And at first it wasn't that bad. We liked each other, maybe not loved, but… She was a family person, so she wanted children and I wanted them too, for all the wrong reasons. In a way, she had similar problems to me…"

He blushed and stopped talking about these very private and intimate parts of their married life. The way they had found relief in each other even if only for a few short years. He was always hot, heating to feverish symptoms caught in this ever-lasting limbo between the anger that fed his flames and the numbing exhaustion of overheating. She was trapped in an opposite circle, always cold and shivering, always calm and selfless and suppressing her own emotions. They had completed each other nicely, until… Well, until he had screwed it up.

"It was fine at first, but… I grew more desperate with every year, so by the time the children were old enough to remember, especially Shoto and Natsuo, our marriage was already reduced to…," he shrugged helplessly, "to what you hear of in the news, I guess."

All Might nodded. There was still a bit of judgement in his eyes, but he seemed at least willing to try and understand and Enji was eternally thankful for that.

"Touya was the first kid I thought had maybe inherited the perfect quirk, so I started training him when he turned seven. But I was wrong. He had… has," he reminded himself through gritted teeth, "a powerful quirk, but he's too… volatile, I guess. And he didn't have the right physical condition."

He realized All Might was looking at him with silent contempt, that he was only making his first mention of his children and already focusing solely on their quirks, but that was how he had been back then. "It was too dangerous, to force him to train. He would get these flaming outbursts that would threaten to burn down the house or maybe even hurt his siblings, so I had to stop. Shoto was… the second one I started training. He was very young when I started with his training. Four or five only, and I… by then, well… I had bet so much on him surpassing you that I couldn't risk it not happening. By then I had worked for this for years, I had alienated my other children, my marriage was in shambles… I wanted it to succeed. So, I overdid it," he admitted.

"What did you do?" All Might asked as if he needed to hear it, but there was silent rage boiling visible under his calm surface and Enji realized: It wasn't that All Might needed to hear, Enji needed to say it.

"I forced him to train. Pushed him to his limits. Sometimes he was vomiting from exhaustion, but I wouldn't let him stop. Sometimes he could hardly stand. Sometimes we… sparred," he emphasized the word in a very cynical way, because now he knew it hadn't just been 'sparring', "and I hurt him. The only time I ever relented was when he was really, seriously ill, and even then I would only give him a few days to recover. He was mostly a healthy child, so… I thought, that was enough…" he shook his head after a moment of thought. "No, I thought it HAD to be enough. I… don't think I ever spent time with him beyond training. I worked a lot. With the other kids I never had time at all. For as long as Rei was there, I was essentially not a part of their lives. She took care of them. Then she… snapped. I don't know…" Part of him didn't want to talk about this, but part of him also genuinely still didn't know what had actually made her snap as she did. What made her turn against her son instead of him? It had come so out of nowhere for Endeavor, completely blindsiding him. "After Shoto was born, to be honest, we didn't spend that much time together anymore. As I said, I was mostly at work. She was… isolated, I guess. Holed up at home with the kids. She didn't complain, for the most part, she loved them of course, but I don't know… Her whole world evolved around them and with them around she didn't have an outlet for her own problems. Bottling them all up inside. I mean, I guess." He shrugged.

"Of course," he then admitted half-heartedly, "it probably mostly boiled down to me. Our marriage was… a farce. I wasn't around much, when I was, I was angry or tired or aggressive. And I—" He rubbed his hand over his face cutting himself off. "I avoided her, and she avoided me. I think we both wanted to avoid talking about some important issues. She thought, I was overdoing it with Touya, that was basically the only time we ever spoke. And when we did, we fought. Then I discarded Touya, and Touya was… I think he thought he had failed me? She wanted me to spend more time with him and the other two then. But I didn't, so we fought. When I started training Shoto, it all escalated."

"You mean, you escalated," All Might corrected him in a strict tone.

Enji nodded dumbly. "I… escalated. I felt betrayed, to be honest. We had more or less come up with this whole plan together. I mean it was my idea, but she was okay with it; went along with it even. But then, when I started training Shoto, she stood in my way. She thought it was too soon, too harsh… I mean, she was right, obviously, but I didn't see it that way. I hit her." He had finally pressed the three words out between his lips.

All Might breathed in audibly. "You hit her," he repeated.

"Sometimes." He frowned. "Not often or regularly, but at a certain point, when she wouldn't budge, sometimes it was easier."

"Easier," again he repeated Enji's words like a parrot there to condemn Enji to the deepest hell.

"Easier than doubting myself," he explained. "I had decided on this path, and I was determined to follow it. And I knew that my children didn't care for me. Not that I could blame them, after being absent all their lives. I knew that she had started hating me. I knew that you were still as unreachable as ever… I thought, I had nothing to lose if I kept on going, because I had already sacrificed everything important anyway. And I thought, I had everything to lose, if I gave up. Because it all would have been for nothing. But Rei, she wanted me to give up."

"So, you hit her," the blond repeated once again.

"I know I was wrong!" Enji hissed angrily. "I know it, now. What do you want me to say? That I had some great reason to do it, I didn't. I was desperate, I thought she stood in my way, and I thought it was easier to push her aside, if necessary, by force instead of arguing it through with her. There's no grand excuse I can give you that would make all this right!"

"Exactly," All Might said finally looking straight at Enji.

And finally, Enji too saw, what was the only thing left to say. "I'm sorry," he cried louder than maybe necessary.

"It's not me who needs to hear that," All Might answered with what sounded like pity.

Enji knew, of course. He had to tell his family. He looked away with a sad expression on his face. "It's not like they'd want to hear it. It wouldn't make a difference," he muttered sadly. "You haven't heard the half of it. After she hurt Shoto, I was so angry with her. I put her in the mental hospital, to help her, but by doing that I completely isolated her from her children and her children from her. They needed her. And then Touya. And I… Touya tried to kill me. They are never going to forgive me."

"It's not about forgiveness," muttered All Might silently, "it's about apologizing. They are two different things."

"I tried," Enji murmured dejectedly. "It's not… I keep screwing it up. I'm just not good at it."

"Nobody is. If it were easy," All Might explained in his wisdom that Enji had never noticed about the otherwise naïve fool, "it wouldn't mean anything."

Enji looked at his hands in his lap nodding. Of course, he knew this, he thought. It was the first thing he had ever known when he had set out to change and make it up to his family if he could. He had known it wouldn't be easy.

Maybe he had forgotten in the last weeks?

He hardly noticed as All Might stood up to let himself out. "And Todoroki? Don't think they don't want to hear it. Young Todoroki still very much hopes you can pull through."

Enji's head shot up so fast he almost got whiplash from it.

"Did he say that?"

"He doesn't have to. It's obvious every time there is a 'Villain-Endeavor'-report on TV. He has a lot on his plate right now, dealing with this, his siblings, school and the new revelation about Dabi." He smiled a bit now. "But you look horrible, Todoroki, and I know your son would be saddened to see you like that."


	20. One Step at a Time

Chapter Number 20!

The Manga is so good currently. I fear a little bit that Horikoshi will do all the good stuff now, before I get around to write it. Now, Natsuo is even in danger!

The manga is so good currently, I love it. And it gives me a lot of inspiration to write. Sadly - although I have time now - I still lack the motivation to write all my ideas down. Instead I'm just lying around daydreaming about the scenes...

Anyway, I hope you like this next chapter!

* * *

 **One Step at a Time**

"The copies that were sent to many news outlets in the country," Endeavor hesitated for only a short moment at this point, "... were indeed copies of my son's own diary that he wrote about six years ago."

With his words, the noise erupted. Before this final admission, the journalists sitting and standing in front of him had held back with their comments. Now, it was as if his words had broken a dam and suddenly the whole room fell into chaos.

His speech hadn't been very long, all things considered. After all the days he had wasted trying to find the right words, he had found that in the end, he didn't really have that much to say. The important part, really, was that he admitted to the truthfulness of the accusations against him. Before he did that, he felt that he couldn't move on.

It felt like this was his first step; and right there in the center of all the attention, being screamed at from different sides with questions and accusations and insults being thrown in his face. With a horde of angry people outside of the conference room he had rented for this occasion, banging against doors, windows and walls with the security just barely holding them in check, for the first time, he felt oddly at peace.

He had said it. The words had left his lips, he couldn't take them back, and finally this at least was done. It was as if a burden was lifted off his chest. No more thinking about the right words, no more fearing the vultures from the press camped outside his house or avoiding the outrage of the public.

Over the cacophony of voices, over the banging and metal chairs scraping over the ground he could hardly even make out single questions. He heard his name from all sides: Endeavor, the name he had chosen. He was in costume, though he had somewhat doused the flames around his chest and shoulders, his beard and mask hiding the small half-healed bruise All Might's fist had left behind. This was a public outing of Endeavor; he felt it had little to do with the private person Enji Todoroki. This was just Endeavor facing up to his mistakes in front of the public that he owed an apology. Doing so as Enji in front of his family would be a different challenge altogether.

His own hero name aside he could hear the names of his children and his wife. He still couldn't make out the individual questions, but he guessed they asked for details, never satisfied.

He waited calmly until the security personnel managed to restore order in the room. His eyes shifted over to the man responsible for security standing just next to the podest Endeavor was on. The man said something into his headset. Enji couldn't hear him nor read his lips so he let his eyes wander.

Someone in the back of the room caught his attention then, as he let his eyes slowly roam over the assembled masses. The person wore a coat indoors and had her face tucked behind the cover of a broad scarf. Her figure was familiar, but what caught his attention was her calmness. Unlike the people around her who roared and shoved against each other in righteous fury, this person remained where she was, leaning against a wall with one shoulder.

It was only when she turned her head slightly to talk to a tall woman standing next to her, that Enji recognized his own daughter. Not only was she hiding her face, she had also – as he now realized – put on a wig of long brown hair to disguise her telling red-streaked white hair from the public eye.

He was transfixed by her sight.

Enji hadn't seen his daughter in almost three weeks. Sometimes he managed to get her on the phone, but there were never more than a few words exchanged between them. Now, here she stood and all that stood between them was a mob of raging people, who would probably lynch him as soon as he stepped away from the protection of his speaker's desk, and the guards surrounding him.

"Sir?" Inari said behind him, his voice making it to Endeavor's ear very easily, now that the journalists had, albeit reluctantly, quieted down again.

Endeavor had hardly even realized that it was now quiet enough for him, that he could continue the last part of his statement. Reluctantly, he tore his eyes away from Fuyumi and looked down to the paper that helped him through this day.

For a moment the words printed there blurred together, he could hardly make them out. Then the letters eventually found their place again, and Endeavor's eyes rose back up to the audience. Shortly they flickered back were Fuyumi was, but she had turned her head away again, tucked into her scarf; and for just this short second as he looked at her, he feared he had just imagined it, and it wasn't her after all.

"As a hero in this country," Endeavor started with his voice somewhat off-kilter, "we should strive to become the best person we can possibly be, and live a virtuous and righteous life – not just during our work hours in costume, but also in private. It is, after all, impossible to separate the hero from the person. Heroes are supposed to be pillars of society, paragons of justice and idols to our children." His tongue felt heavy.

He realized that his voice didn't sound off-kilter or funny. It was husky. He swallowed dryly, knowing how weak he must sound to the people in the room and those watching his statement on TV. Slowly his hand on the desk curled into a fist, restraining himself from grabbing for the half empty glass of water at the upper corner of the desk. While he was willing to admit to weakness and failure in this very moment, he didn't want to look weak. It was against his nature.

 _Pathetic!_ A voice in his head admonished.

"I…I," he cut himself off, realizing he had started stuttering for just a moment. He looked up to see if anybody had noticed, but they just scowled back at him, obviously just barely holding back more enraged questions. He coughed slightly to cover his slip-up. "I realize that I have failed in this. What I did was un-" At this point he was interrupted by loud banging at the door. Voices from the people outside reached into the room, although he couldn't make out any words at first. His security guards suddenly moved towards the door, communicating via their headsets with the guards outside. Then the doors banged open.

Endeavor's flames surged as if he was about to jump into action. More muscle memory then conscious decision. After years of working as a hero, jumping into action when there was only the slightest sign of unrest, was long first and second nature to him. He had to actively stop himself from moving. At this moment it would be the worst he could do, to attack the people barging in. He had his security detail for that. So he just doused his flames again and watched.

Two people had sneaked through the security guards and barged into the room. "Got to hell!" screamed the woman in a high pitched voice, making a motion to throw something that looked like a stone, but before she could, she was wrestled down by one of the guards. "You should go to prison! Tartarus was ma—" her voice was muffled, as the guard pressed her to the ground despite her struggle.

The other person, a male, fought furiously against the guards while screaming curses and insults that Endeavor could neither understand nor say if they were directed at him or the people who were wrestling him down.

From outside,e he could hear people scream insults against the building. "Endeavor is a swine!" he heard and, "Since when do we give press conferences to villains!" and, "Drag the villain to Tartarus, the people there will show him his place!" It was hard to make out more than the loudest demands and cries, before the security guards dragged the two intruders back through the door.

With a bang, the wooden doors fell shut behind them. It was suddenly quiet again, everybody staring at the door. His head of security gave him a fervent signal to continue.

Endeavor coughed slightly, looking back to his page, trying to find where he left off.

"My actions were unworthy of the hero I strive to be." he started again, "If I weren't a hero, even just as a father this behavior is inexcusable. But beyond my role as a father, as a hero, I also failed to be the idol you deserved."

He had their attention back now. If it weren't for the few careful glances back at the door, he could have been fooled into thinking that nothing had happened and that he hadn't just been interrupted so rudely. His eyes wandered over the faces. Angry scowls on angry faces, flashes from cameras, furious scribbling or typing on tablets or into notebooks.

There was no sympathy here. Maybe he had expected it. The idea that he humbled himself and all would be forgiven had of course been unrealistic, so he hadn't exactly hoped for that. Still, he felt oddly disappointed as his statement wasn't even met with any sort of positive reaction or even sympathy. It seemed as if they just got angrier with every word he said; or maybe that was just their patience running out.

They all wanted to ask their little questions, he knew.

"For that reason," he said calmly, "I want to apologize to the public for failing in my role as a hero. I also," his eyes wandered back to the place where he had seen his daughter. He could hardly see her now. After the security personnel had calmed the people, they had returned to their seats and standing positions, and were now all around the place where Fuyumi had been. "I also," he repeated a bit disappointed that he didn't see her but with no less sincerity in his voice, "want to apologize to my family. To my children and my wife who have suffered so greatly from my actions."

He sighed, but quickly moved on before the press could see his pause as an indication that he had finished. He needed to get one more point across before they would bombard him with their accusations.

"Lastly, I want to use this opportunity to ask you that you direct your questions and attention to me. I know that there are still journalists camping outside my sons' dorm and schools and my daughter's workplace. It has also come to my attention that people have tried to inquire my wife's current location and medical records. Even if there is no ill-will in many of these actions, and even though I understand that there is a need of the public to get to the truth of things, I ask that you respect my children's and my wife's privacy. After my failures as a father and husband, I realize this request might sound pretentious coming from me, but they have suffered enough from my actions. I fear, despite the good intentions, this will not help in their recovery."

The second he closed his mouth and reached for the glass of water, the noise broke out again. This time however, it didn't take long for the group to be organized so that they could ask their questions in an at least somewhat orderly manner. He could still hear some rude comments, though it was still difficult to discern the actual words. It was the tone that made it obvious that they were insulting or cursing him. However, it seemed most of the men and women present had at least one question they wanted to get answered, so they behaved if only for that purpose.

"Endeavor! Endeavor, here!" A short, middle-aged man with a plump figure and little hair left got his attention first and blurted the question out as soon as Enji looked at him: "Are the rumors about your wife's mental breakdown true?" he asked.

Endeavor almost burst into flames from anger. He had just asked them to leave his family's private life out of this, and what else could a question about her mental health be but a breach of privacy. Still, over the years Endeavor had trained hard enough to restrain himself from burning everybody to ash who annoyed him. A sudden flicker of his flames was the only outward reaction to the question.

But it didn't go unnoticed. "We have information she is in…" the journalist was interrupted by another one screaming over him and then another one. "Musutafu State Hospital" he could hear somebody scream, "burning", "depression", "traumatic", "Rei Todoroki"... Words just wildly thrown on top of each other; many voices merging to a loud screaming match leaving him barely able to register more than one or two words at once. Nevermind making sense of the mangled sentences.

"I don't know all the rumors," he admitted loudly, not sure if they would even hear his answer.. "By now, it is widely known that my wife has spent considerable time in a mental hospital." He didn't know if it was his naturally booming voice that got their attention or the speakers mounted on the walls, but at least they quieted down a bit.

Over the last few weeks, quite a bit about his wife's current state had become public knowledge, so Endeavor figured there was no harm in confirming what they already knew. "However, please understand, that I can't share my wife's medical records with the public."

"But we have a statement from a wit-…" The plump Journalist tried to get more information out of him, but he was thankfully interrupted by the next person asking their question.

This one was a slender young woman. "Your son's scar? Shoto. Is it true, that you gave him this injury with your quirk?"

Endeavor's hand holding the glass of water shook with anger at the question. He grabbed the glass so hard, when he realized what he was doing he wondered how it hadn't burst into a thousand edgy little shards. "No," he grunted in response as he put the glass aside. "I did not."

He quickly beckoned somebody else to talk, before the woman or anybody else could ask for clarification.

This one was of European descent, Enji guessed from his facial features. At least one European grandparent. "From your son's diary, the reason for your harsh training of Shoto and neglect of Natsuo is not really explained. Natsuo only makes repeated mentions of him being a 'failure' and Shoto being a 'masterpiece'," Endeavor almost flinched at the words and he was sure his reaction was visible enough that everybody would see it. "What did he mean by that?"

It was only now that Enji realized that the baseless and attention seeking assumptions were easier to deal with than the questions that were rooted in truth. While the lies and rumors made him angry, this question was almost humbling.

It seemed impossible to answer, and maybe the journalists smelled his reluctance, because suddenly they got very quiet and attentive. They wouldn't let him skip the question, he realized.

"When Shoto's quirk manifested," Endeavor started explaining curtly, "I dedicated a lot of time to his training. At this point I felt, I had no time to spare for my other children," he admitted shamefully.

"But why the different treatment?" the journalist asked again dissatisfied with the answer. "What about this 'masterpiece'-thing?"

"Shoto's quirk was very strong," Endeavor said distantly, "Natsuo's was not." He suppressed a sigh. "I tried… I wanted to train Shoto to become the strongest hero." He consciously left out the part where he had only sired Shoto for that purpose. Instead, he made it sound as if Shoto's strong quirk was what had inspired Enji's wish to turn him into a strong hero. In reality, of course, it had been the other way around. Enji wanted a child that he could train into the strongest hero– that had been the very reason why Shoto and his quirk existed in the first place.

He didn't say it though. As he made to speak the words out loud, he realized himself how awfully twisted and wrong they would sound. He didn't have the stomach to say them. Today, he had publicly admitted to the abuse. However, all of a sudden, he didn't really feel ready to also publicly acknowledge the details.

One step at a time, he told himself quietly to reassure himself, when in reality he felt like a coward.

"He was my masterpiece," Endeavor ended in a curt and somewhat choked voice.

"And Natsuo or your other children didn't fulfill the requirements and were thus failures?" the journalist tried to reaffirm in a judgmental voice.

Enji knew there was little to excuse this, so he just nodded.

"Do you feel that strength is all that is needed for a great hero?"

Endeavor needed a moment to reply. "I did at the time." He thought about adding that he didn't think so anymore.

"As a hero would you tell the next gen—" the man continued eager now that he had Enji's attention, but he was soon interrupted by the next question... and the next, and the next.

It went like this for what felt like hours, but was probably no more than 45 minutes. They asked about everything. His children, his wife, his career, his agency, Shoto's scar, Natsuo's kidnapping that had made national news some two weeks ago when a newspaper had happened upon that information. They asked about wild rumors and accusations, and then some questions that seemed entirely unrelated.

"What about Todoroki Touya?" asked a woman with long straight hair. "We have information that his case was reopened recently?"

"I cannot talk about Touya," Endeavor said tiredly. "You would have to ask the police about that." The information regarding Dabi's true identity was still classified for non-heroes. The police had asked him to keep quiet about it at least for now.

"He died so many years ago. What could possibly make them reopen the case?" the woman asked as if she hadn't heard Endeavor's reply. "Is there some new information?"

"I heard he's actually alive," Endeavor heard somebody comment. "I heard he killed him," muttered another but loud enough for Endeavor to hear.

The hero looked down at the desk and the notes there; they didn't help. "As I said, I cannot tell."

"Can you tell us what initially happened?" she asked again.

"Six years ago, the police told me, my son had a…" he cut himself off. 'A terrible accident' he had wanted to say, but wouldn't that already give away, that indeed there had been new information? Touya's death was by suicide according to the old case file. So, what? Was he supposed to lie, and say that his son was dead, when in actuality he was alive? Denying him all over again?

"I…" he moistened his lips uncertain. "I was informed by the police," he decided to say, "that my son had burst into flames. The initial diagnose was suicide."

He nodded only halfway happy with this half-truth.

"Why would your son commit suicide?" she asked unashamed and uncaring for his suffering.

He hadn't committed suicide, Endeavor reminded himself. It had just been an accident. He shrugged helplessly.

"Did he seem like the kind of person who would kill themselves?" she asked next, cruel in her interview.

"All right," Endeavor heard Inari behind him. "That is enough. Who is next?" He pointed at another woman, but Enji hardly listened to the question.

Had Touya seemed like the kind of person… Endeavor was sure, there was no single type of person more prone to suicide than others, but the question stuck with him. It was like a fly in his eyes and he couldn't shake it.

Touya hadn't been… The Touya Enji remembered from years past wouldn't have ended his life. He wouldn't have left his siblings. Natsuo and Fuyumi had known that and told him so, back then, but Enji had refused to let their arguments persuade him. Maybe he had known it all along. Maybe he had known that Touya hadn't actually killed himself. The 'suicide' diagnosis had fit well with Endeavor's knowledge of Touya's quirk, so it was easy to believe. But maybe he had only made himself believe it, because it was easier to accept for Enji. It meant it wasn't just his fault, not just his failure, but at least to a degree maybe Touya's own doing, too.

Touya killing himself had given Enji an easy excuse to blame Touya instead of himself.

"Touya," he started not even hearing the other question the next journalist had already asked. His mouth worked on its own, unbidden. He didn't want to talk about Touya, but he did. Just like that, he had his name on his lips and the room seemed eerily quiet...waiting. Or maybe, it wasn't really all that quiet and it was really only Enji himself who waited for whatever he'd say next.

Because he didn't know. What was there to say? He couldn't tell them anything. The police had silenced him on this issue. But...what if Touya was listening, he thought. What if his son was listening and Enji had nothing to say to him? Touya...the boy who had tried to kill him. Who had dragged Natsuo into this scheme to have their father murdered. Who had been part of an attack on Shoto's school and friends.

What did he have to say to this boy?

"Touya was…" Was? Is? For weeks he didn't know what was true anymore. Because although he knew that Dabi was Touya now, at the same time Dabi couldn't possibly be his Touya, not the boy he remembered. Kind and fun and easily excited and somewhat sickly Touya.

"The day that , the police told me, Touya had died, was the worst day of my life. If he'd hear me say that, I doubt he would believe me, because we weren't close. But he as my oldest child, and he'll always be my oldest child. There are no words to describe...the hole he left behind. Not just in my life, but…" He stopped suddenly, because...what was he even doing here?

This was nobody's business! It had nothing to do with the public! If this was something he wanted to say, he'd say it to his children, his wife...to Touya directly when the boy inevitably came to kill him again. Not to the whole of Japan!

He was a hero after all. He could not look vulnerable! He could look guilty, sure, he already did, but a hero had to remain strong in the face of tragedy. Wasn't that why that big blond oaf smiled all the time, whiping away the blood from the edges of his mouth as if he was fine? As ridiculous as Endeavor always felt All Might had been, as much as he had always hated that big fat smile on his face, he had always understood the need for it.

The silence stretched for a moment, then Inari coughed behind him and the questions started again. Enji wanted to leave. There was a headache blooming behind his eyes.

"Will you give up your license?" Was the last question they asked.

He was of half a mind to agree. He almost said that he would, that he couldn't fulfill the duties of an idol for the community and thus shouldn't be a hero anymore. The words almost passed his lips.

Only almost. Then he remembered that he had spoken about this before with the members of his agency.

"I have thought about it," he admitted tiredly, "but then decided against it. If the Hero Association deems me unworthy of being a hero and wants to suspend or retract my license, I will comply. I know that I have failed in my role as a hero, yet I do not think shirking off this responsibility and running away from the consequences of my actions is the right decision." He breathed in deeply.

When he first became the Number One Hero, he had endeavored to rise up to the position. Although it seemed likely that he would lose the #1 position with the next update of the Billboard Charts with his sharp decline in popularity, his goal hadn't changed. It seemed he had to relearn what it meant to be a hero entirely, not just what it meant to be the #1.

He wanted to achieve that goal. And as long as the Hero Association allowed him to follow this path, he would not chicken out and give up from his end.

At least that was the plan.


	21. Reactions

Finally I manage an update on sunday again! Or rather, well, one hour after sunday. But I'm getting closer!

Thanks for all the great reviews for last chapter!

Last Manga chapter... oh wow, did you see the hug! My heart was melting.

 **I hope you like the chapter!**

* * *

 **Reactions**

"That went about as well as could be expected," Inari grumbled as he followed Enji backstage. Still, even here they could hear the loud noise, questions, insults, new accusations hurled at the door.

Enji didn't linger on Inari's words. Instead, he extinguished his flames, pulled on a long coat with a high collar and hurried to leave.

"Where are you going?" Inari asked after him. "Are you mad? You can't go out there!"

He was probably right, Enji thought. The journalists would see him, and close in on him as soon as they were sure it was him. Without the stage and the security, he wouldn't stand a chance. Never mind the hordes still protesting outside. Enji didn't really think about that risk, though. He hoped he would find and catch up to Fuyumi, maybe he would finally be able to exchange words face to face again after what felt like an eternity. He'd deal with the journalists when… _if_ the problem arose.

He took the fire exit to the stairwell, taking several steps at once until he started leaping down entire segments of the stairs at once. He was down at ground level in an instant. As he pushed the back door to the building open, he was careful, checking first if anybody was outside.

He looked out onto a small alleyway walled off by many high-rise office buildings. He had rented the room for the interview, not wanting to invite the vultures to his agency if that could be prevented. That would just hinder the good work his sidekicks were still doing in this very moment.

As he slipped out of the door into the grey alleyway, he could hear the loud voices of the protesters from the other side of the building, occupying the security around the front gate. From where he was, he couldn't make out any words. Still, they didn't sound friendly, so he pulled up the collar of his coat and hurried towards the opposite direction.

Fuyumi had already left the room, when he had finished his speech. When he had looked around then, he didn't see her anymore. If she came by car, she would have very likely left the vehicle in the car park two streets over. At least that was what he hoped for. If he was lucky he might be able to meet her halfway there.

Without his mask and beard, he wasn't immediately recognized as he hurried down the road. For one, it was rather convenient, that his flames had always been the most obvious part of his hero costume. Even now, with private pictures of himself, out of costume, were shown all over the news, most of the people on the street were still used to seeing him with flames on his face, shoulders and boots. Without those, they always needed a double take to be sure it was really him. Walking quickly past the protesters the way he was, he didn't give them enough time for that, so he was left mostly alone as he dashed around another corner and saw the high structure, where he hoped Fuyumi had parked her car.

There! He thought he saw the tall woman that had been with Fuyumi earlier. Because she was the only clue he had, he hurried after her into the pedestrian entry to the car parking garage.

Indeed, there she was. He increased his speed, until he was close enough to call her name, without alerting any journalists or protesters who might still be in the vicinity.

"Fuyumi!" he called out.

For a second it seemed like she hadn't heard him or maybe he was wrong after all, and it wasn't Fuyumi, just a young woman who didn't know she was even spoken to. Just a girl who didn't listen to the name Fuyumi. Then her step faltered ever so slightly. It was her! Now he was sure!

He ran the last few steps to catch up to her.

She seemed unsure of what to do. Momentarily Enji feared she would flee from him, but then she just hurriedly looked around herself and turned toward him quietly.

"Fuyumi, it's you," Enji said uselessly. His gaze shortly flickered to the tall woman next to her. He didn't know this one.

"Hi, Dad," Fuyumi mumbled, her voice somewhere between hesitating and annoyed that he had found her.

"You listened to what I said," Enji continued, again saying something utterly unnecessary. Of course, she had listened, he had seen her there… The question was, had she actually LISTENED.

He waited for some response from her. When nothing came, however, he asked: "What did you think?"

"What did I think?" She repeated his question a bit disbelievingly.

Enji smiled a bit, waiting and encouraging her to answer.

"What do you want me to say?" she answered calmly, but she could have just as well snapped at Enji. "Do you want me to praise you for it?"

His smile fell. He hadn't exactly expected anything specific… But maybe something. He didn't know what to say.

"You didn't even rectify your lies about Touya! So, now the police are investigating, huh? You convinced them, all right." She was clearly angry, when before there hadn't been a hint of fury in her voice. Maybe just seeing Enji made her that angry now?

He shouldn't have asked, he realized. What had he expected, huh? It wasn't like he had actually done anything. All he had done was admitted to some of his mistakes. He felt stupid now. Fuyumi must think him pathetic, running to her for praise for every tiny step he took.

Still, it annoyed him that she didn't believe him about Touya. As if he would lie about something like that.

"I didn't lie about him!" he enforced.

Fuyumi frowned at him with furrowed brows. Then her eyes drifted away from Enji down the street. They still only stood in the entryway to the car parking garage, one foot on the street, one foot inside.

"It's him!" he heard somebody exclaim. "Over there!" Shit! "Endeavor!" They had found him. "Bring the camera! Endeavor! What do you say to those who think you are proof, that Stain was right?" They already asked the question from afar as if they hadn't asked him that same question already several times.

"He should be ashamed to just stand there, like any other man!" somebody cried in fury. "He belongs in prison."

"I don't care how many villains he caught. That's not an excuse to abuse your children!"

Fuyumi glanced back to him, then she turned around. "I have to go," she declared quietly and hurried away. Enji wanted to go after her, didn't want to let her go just yet, but the tall woman was suddenly in front of him.

Damn, she was freakishly tall for a woman, Enji realized suddenly. He himself was a tall, big man, towering over just about every person he himself knew. This woman was almost as tall as him, but with a slender build. "Let me through!" Enji demanded annoyed trying to push past her, but she put a hand on his chest and blocked his path.

"Someone should put him in prison!" he heard somebody demand behind him, the camera wielding mob closing in on him. "With all those villains in there… They'd show him!"

"What do you want?" Enji blurted at her, annoyed that the woman didn't let him pass, but not willing to shove her away with his full strength and possibly hurt her.

"Leave her be," she demanded.

"What's it to you?" Enji retorted dismissively, pushing her aside with a steady but firm hand. Only when she reinforced her efforts to stay in his way, did he actually stare at her for the first time. Apart from her size, she didn't look very remarkable, Enji thought. A plain face with a mulish look about her. "Who are you?" he questioned maybe a bit impolitely.

She shoved him back. "A friend of your daughter," she answered after a moment of hesitation. "You should really just let her go."

At this point he had no other option anyway, as the angry mob closed in on him with flashing camera lights. Fuyumi had long vanished inside the garage, climbing the stairs and Enji knew, if he would now go after her, he'd just set the mob on her, too.

He gave the tall woman a disgruntled stare, then he nodded angrily and pushed away from her down the alley and away from both the two women and the angry mob on his heels. He hurried and increased his steps until he was actually running away from them.

How humiliating! Running from the press, quite literally. But at least years of tireless training ensured that he easily got away from them.

He only ran around the block really, until he met up with his PR team just a street away from the place where he had held the conference.

"That was a ridiculous stunt," one of his PR-consultants muttered as Enji joined them again panting only slightly. "And stupid. What did you think running off like that? Who was that, even?"

Endeavor muttered at being called stupid by his own employee, but he didn't give him an answer to their question. "It wasn't my best decision," he admitted truthfully, "let's go." He slipped into the back seat of the big black limousine before they could ask him any more questions. He really didn't want to spend one more minute just standing around and risking one of the reporters who were still close by turning around and recognizing him again.

"Your daughter?" Nakamura was already waiting in the car, when Endeavor sat down next to him. The lawyer had his phone in his right hand, but he didn't use it, instead he pushed a slip of paper into Endeavor's hand. "Your hearing in front of the Hero Association," he informed nodding towards the paper.

"Already?" asked Endeavor impressed how quickly they had acted after his conference.

"We were expecting this," nodded Nakamura. There were dark rings around his eyes, Enji realized now. He must have been working his ass off for the last few weeks trying to salvage what he could. "We knew they would start their own investigation as soon as they couldn't find a good excuse to put it off any longer. Now that you have recovered and are back on the streets… Nevermind, that you already made your first official statement without giving them much prior notice." There was a slightly annoyed scowl on Nakamura's face as he moved his fingers through his thinning grey hair.

Before today, Enji, Inari, and Nakamura had talked for hours who to inform of his statement and what to tell them prior to going public. In the end, they had decided to inform as few people as necessary to make the statement itself as genuine as possible and not have all kinds of people influencing his words. Mostly they talked about what to reveal about Touya and the state of the League-of-Villains-investigations, not so much about his family matters. Nakamura had wanted to talk everything through with the Hero Association first, as to him, Endeavor losing his license was the most immediate threat to the agency.

Now, Nakamura was maybe rightfully annoyed that it had been him who had apparently just been called by the Hero Association and Enji could just imagine their angry complaints over the phone. Enji didn't argue with him anymore about whether or not they had made the right choice, instead he looked at the slip of paper and the information scribbled on it in neat and tidy handwriting.

"Monday morning already," wondered Endeavor. It was Friday afternoon. Japan's Pro-Hero Association was a partly private partly government run agency, and as any other ordinary government run agency they hated working during the weekends. He imagined at the moment there were only a few people at the agency that had been there to react to his statement. Monday morning, thus, seemed like the earliest appointment they could possibly give him for his first hearing.

"I guess, they want to get this over with as fast as possible," Nakamura suggested. "That's good for us. It seems they know how much they need you back on the streets."

"Speaking of which," said Inari as he opened the door to sit down opposite Enji and Nakamura on the other bench in the comfortably big car. He knocked against the window to the front, and a moment later the limousine rumbled to life with a low humming noise. "Did Avalanche brief you for your first patrol?"

Endeavor looked out of the black-tinted windows, to the people demonstrating at the other end of the street. About two hundred people, Inari had told him at the beginning of his interview, who had all come to tell him, they'd rather see him dead than back in action. Over the course of the interview, more people must have come. They filled the entire area in front of the main entrance to the public building, Endeavor had rented just for this occasion. Thankfully they didn't know about the three and a half emergency exits that allowed Endeavor and his staff to leave the building in secret without being noticed. That had been one of the reasons, he had chosen that building. Now, some of the protesters - they must have heard, that he had already left the building by now - made to leave the scene, some turned around and spotted the big limousine pulling up from around the corner. They pointed and screamed, or at least Endeavor could see their mouths move from the distance, then Matsuura, his driver, took a turn and pulled up on the main road and Endeavor lost sight of them.

Only when Inari coughed slightly, did the Number One hero turn his attention back to his secretary.

"If you're asking whether he told me all about the increased villain activity in Musutafu and all of Japan, then yes, he did," Enji answered a bit impatiently. Inari looked at him doubtfully. Maybe he didn't like Endeavor's almost sarcastic tone. "Don't worry, I'm ready," he added. Really, as if he hadn't known about the new challenges anyway. He was watching the news even if he didn't like what they said about him. Nevermind the fact he was in the business for almost 30 years now. He didn't need Inari's frantic mothering. The man treated him as if Endeavor had forgotten how to do his job in the last few weeks.

Well, 'mothering' wasn't a very fitting choice of word, Enji corrected. Inari hadn't quite forgiven Endeavor for his actions, and the hero felt as if his secretary only stayed with him because he had no other job-opportunity. He looked at him differently ever since the truth came out. Endeavor could hardly look him in the eye without being drowned in his judgement.

Enji leaned back in his seat as the car smoothly rolled over the streets of Musutafu until they arrived in the underground garage of his agency.

"Well, I have to do some paperwork," Nakamura muttered tiredly as he left the car almost as soon as it halted.

For a moment Enji was alone with Inari. The silence between them felt rather awkward. Eventually Enji coughed slightly, which apparently was enough to break Inari's silence.

"You know I have been looking for a different position?" asked Inari quietly. Enji nodded. He hadn't really known for a fact, but it had been rather obvious in Inari's behavior towards him over the last few days as they planned Endeavor's statement to the press, that Inari wished to be anywhere else than in the same room with his employer. "Good," Inari nodded.

Enji waited for a second if there was more coming, but when Inari remained quiet, he raised an eyebrow in question. "And now," he wondered, "should I expect to find your resignation on my desk any time soon?"

Inari looked up at him almost challenging, then he glanced down to his lap. "No, don't worry. The last days made me realize something…" He shrugged as Endeavor waited patiently for him to continue. "The last days were a mess. With you out, Best Jeanist still in recovery and even Hawks… There were fewer high-ranking heroes on the street recently. Edgeshot's agency is flooded with requests from all I heard. That alone is enough to increase villain activity. With the news about your… private life, it got even worse." The mention of Hawks made Enji start in surprise, but he wasn't given an opportunity to get a word in.

Inari now looked at Endeavor almost pleadingly. "At this point, I realized that… I hate looking at you and knowing what you did. I hate working here and I hate having to take the calls and mails, the complaints and insults meant for you." There was a tired hunch in his shoulders. "Part of me just wants to put all of them through to you, so you can see with your own eyes what they really think about you. Instead, it's my job to filter everything as a last line of defense before it reaches your desk. Sometimes, when I read another threat to burn down the agency, I just think: 'Let them and I would at least be rid of these headaches and be able to look my kids and wife in the eyes again.' I feel like with staying I'm somehow condoning what you did. But then I realized, if the Agency fails, if we had to close down, we lost."

"What do you mean?" Enji said a bit flustered.

"That's what the villains wanted, isn't it? As much as I hate it, as much as you don't deserve it, but Japan needs you as a hero. Without you, maybe I could look my daughters in the eyes again, but they wouldn't be safe anymore. It wouldn't be safe anywhere."

"I'm not sure if there is a safe place now," admitted Endeavor silently.

"Then it's your duty to make one, right?" asked Inari. "Ours. That's why I'm still here." He opened the door of the car and stepped out into the dull light of the garage. "I never had the right quirk to be a hero, but I remembered when I was a kid, I thought, if I can't be a hero myself, I could work for a hero and make their work easier. I don't have to like you, as long as you do your job." He grabbed the door and leaned down to where Endeavor was still sitting. For just a short second, the flame hero felt intimidated. "You didn't do your job for weeks now," Inari reminded him, "so, be here at half past eight for your patrol."

He slammed the door shut before Endeavor could do or say anything else. For a while he just sat there and blinked at the door, still seeing Inari's retreating back through the window. Then he was pulled out of his stupor as the interior window separating the driver from the passengers rolled down to reveal the back of Matsuura's head and his eyes in the rearview mirror looking at Endeavor.

"Where to, Boss?"

Enji needed a moment to remember his other plan for the day. He glanced down at his watch. It was still only half past four in the afternoon and he had four hours between now and his patrol. In the Agency they had collectively agreed to let some time pass between his statement and his patrol, and there was much more happening in the late evening hours compared to the late afternoon.

He still had somewhere else to be. "The Florrum Gardens," he said. "But let's use a smaller car."

* * *

How did you like it?

I hope nobody is disappointed at Fuyumi still being a bit negative. She really has a lot on her plate now, I'm just waiting for the right opportunity to bring that up. And that's not now, sadly. Poor Enji really suffers with her denial thought.

Btw. i really like Fuyumi. Writing her is a lot of fun and in the Manga she's really becoming one of my favorites.

About where this story moves on...whew... after this chapter there will be so much to do. So far, I think it was mostly straight forward, with Endeavor resting, recovering from his injury, becoming a little depressive. Now, however stuff is happening left and right. There are Rei and the Children to deal with, there is the Hero Association, Endeavor will get back to work soon, the Traitor plot will come back soon... I don't even know yet when and how I will bring Touya back into the story, with how much is going on now. So... if in the future you think it's chaotic or too much stuff happening or I don't give an issue enough time and consideration, tell me.

Anyway, next Chapter will start Part 3 (or 2.2) of the story. Time to end the Recovery part!


	22. The Musutafu Institute for Mental Health

A/N:

My my my... the Manga is so good. Also a tiny bit frustrating that Horikoshi now tells about the same story I wanna tell. After all, I don't want to just copy his ideas. Still, I absolutely love these chapters recently. This weeks chapter made my weekend so much better. I'm so proud of Enji, and I'm so happy, that finally he managed to say some of these important things.

Now, away from the Manga, the new chapter:

I have to admit, that I was a bit impatient, and wanted to update today by all means necessary. I added the first part of this chapter just a short time ago so - it's not her fault - but because of my suddenly changing these parts of the chapters, my Beta reader couldn't check them yet. So there may be another update sometime next week to a beta-read version. Don't be surprised if you should see that. The next update will only be next weekend.

* * *

 **The Musutafu Institute for Mental Health**

It was a cool afternoon as he walked down the twisting and turning path through the public municipal gardens. There were some families strolling around the flower beds and bushes, and some couples walking between rows of almost barren cherry trees. All in all, there weren't many people.

While he had been in the hospital and then holed up at home, winter had arrived; he realized with some worry. It had gotten colder over the last few days, not that it made a difference to Enji who over the years had become rather desensitized to small temperature shifts from one day to the other.

The path he took he knew by heart. He had followed it often enough during the first couple of months after his ascent to the #1 position. Across the big square in the center of the park, following the cherry street past a field of roses that were a sorry sight in winter, and then to the left of the peach tree with its widespread branches that reached into the pathway just far enough that for Endeavor with his 6'4'' height, ducking down under it was a real pain.

The garden wasn't kept as neatly as he had always been used to from other gardens; here the gardeners kept some order but also created the illusion that at least some of these flowers, trees, and herbs grew wild. It was of course only an illusion. There were even some parts of the park where the city had built little greenhouses or small sheltered areas. The park was always open to the public, and visitors were even allowed to take a flower or two, though a monetary donation would be expected. Little metal boxes, painted in the colors of a Japanese spring stood to the side of the pathways to serve exactly that purpose.

He found his way easily, only to find his destination and be disappointed. His concern had been valid. Where all these months before, there used to be a whole field of dark violet and blue flowers he could have just easily plucked one of them out of its natural habitat, now there were no violet flowers left. Some dried or frozen brownish leaves were still on the ground around his feet, but as for the flower itself it had died long ago. He stared at the ground in disappointment.

After All Might's downfall, he had gone here often, regularly once or twice a week. This had been where he had first gone on a date with Rei, if his short courting phase could even be counted as 'dating'. Here she had told him about the flower she liked so much, and he had remembered that when he saw them again all these months ago.

He hadn't known the flower himself. Endeavor spent all his life fighting, training and working, with little time left for his family and even less to get educated about flowers. So he had just plucked one, and brought it to the hospital to visit Rei.

When the doctors hadn't let him through, he had been disappointed. But he was nothing if not persistent, so he had left the flower with the doctors and had visited again the next time he could find some short minutes between work, bringing a new flower.

By then he had found out its name: The Autumn Bellflower.

He should have really seen it coming, he guessed. Its name was Autumn Bellflower, not Winter Bellflower. He had missed the opportunity to pick one last violet-blue blossom.

"It's a sad sight," somebody said behind him, making him start. "The dying flowers in autumn and Winter." An old lady walked up to him very slowly leaning heavily on a wooden cane.

He needed a second to pull himself out of his surprise to kick himself in the ass and hurriedly walk up to her. "Honored Elder," he addressed her, almost stumbling over his words in his embarrassment that he hadn't already offered his help. His parents hadn't taught him much, but they had taught him how to treat his elders. So, he quickly stepped back to her and offered her his arm. "Can I help you?"

"Ah, young man, I'm not too old to not walk by myself, yet," she admonished and slapped his hand away with a good-natured, hoarse laugh. There was a sparkle in her eyes that she appreciated the gesture. He took his hand back, but he hovered at her side not quite trusting that she wouldn't be blown over with the next breeze. She might have said that she wasn't too old to walk, but as she made her way to the Autumn Bellflowers, a distance he had quickly crossed with just two long strides, she put monumental effort in each of her steps, closing in very slowly.

"You wanted to say something?" asked Enji, who was a bit confused about what she wanted with him.

"I just saw you contemplating the Rindou here, or what is left of it." He recognized the Japanese name of the flower that Rei had used when she had first shown them to him. "Do you like them?"

"My wife does," he answered after a moment contemplating, but deciding that this wasn't in fact a mischievous scheme by some news agency or such to get some private information. The woman seemed innocent enough.

Innocent, and also small. She must have shrunk a lot with age, that now next to Endeavor she looked positively tiny. In fact, she could reach the hanging leaves of some last dying flowers without having to bow down much.

"It's a beautiful choice," she commented, rubbing a leaf between her index fingers and thumb as if caressing the plant.

"I wanted to pick one for her, but I guess they don't do well in winter," he explained awkwardly.

"Indeed," she spoke as slowly as she had walked. "You'll have to wait until next summer. Then it will bloom again.

Enji didn't know what to say to that. He had gathered as much already. Now, he was just awkwardly hovering behind the old lady. With the flowers dead he should just leave the park again, or maybe look for a different flower, just picking one to at least have something in his hands when he visited Rei. However, instead he felt it would be rude to just let the woman stand there alone. Especially after she had worked so hard to walk up to him and talk to him about flowers of all things.

Enji Todoroki might normally not care about etiquette and rudeness came easy to him, but he was not rude to elders. So, he remained where he was, awkwardly behind an old woman who he didn't know, who looked old enough to be his own grandmother.

"Do you know what the Rindou here stands for?" she asked finally after what felt like an eternity of just contemplating the plant.

'Rei had talked about this too,' he thought. Not much, she didn't put much meaning in flowers, herself. Or maybe she thought that he wouldn't care. But she had at least mentioned something. "Victory," he said, only half sure. Rei had said more than that of course, but he didn't remember the other parts.

The old lady laughed hoarsely, then she looked at him for the first time, directly in his face. Something flashed across her face briefly. "You're a hero, I guess?"

He was surprised she hadn't apparently recognized him yet. Which didn't happen often these days. The lady must have seen the surprise on his face, because she smiled an almost toothless smile, before saying: "Oh, don't look that surprised!" she exclaimed. "It's the scar. A battle scar, I can see that."

He had momentarily forgotten about the ugly thing right across his face. He raised his hand to touch it, but was stopped by her hand on his wrist.

"Don't touch it," she said in her hoarse voice. Almost like a whisper… But a very loud one. "It will just irritate the skin there. It still looks very fresh."

She was right, of course. His fight with the Nomu had been just over a month or so ago. It felt like forever though. He let his hand sink. Still, he was confused that she didn't recognize him. Not only had he always been a public figure, having been the number two hero for almost thirty years, but now he was constantly all over the news. And his battle against the Nomu in Fukuoka had been a national catastrophe. She seemed to sense his confusion, as she raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I'm just surprised," he explained, "I'm not used to not being recognized at once."

For a moment she looked at him as if he had made a joke, then she laughed. "You seem quite sure of your fame." Well, true, but Endeavor thought that was justified. He was the #1 hero and all over the news after all. "I'm old," the lady explained then. "When I was young, there were hardly any quirks. Since then the world has been changing so fast, it's hard to keep up."

She sighed and turned back to the flowerless garden. Enji just stared at her back. How old was she, he wondered? Eighty? Ninety? That would mean she had grown up at a time where less than 10 % of the population had quirks and before the Hero Association had even been a thing. He could hardly even imagine a world without quirks or heroes… Or villains for that matter.

"It does not mean victory the way you think," she now said, before Enji could ask her to tell him more about her quirkless past. "Not victory in battle. At least not the kind of battle you would think about," she explained. He didn't understand, really. "The Rindou stands for victory against disease."

"Oh," he breathed quietly, "I didn't know." There was a moment of silence that felt more awkward than before. "My wife is sick," he admitted. He didn't even know why he said it. As if he had an uncharacteristic need to fill the silence.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Give her all my well-wishes, would you?" He nodded automatically, thinking he probably wouldn't. He didn't even know the old woman, and should he even get to talk to Rei, they had much different stuff to talk about.

"I will," he promised anyway.

"Oh, I'm wasting your time, am I not?" she croaked suddenly. "You just wanted to plug a flower before visiting your wife, and here I am, holding you back. Don't mind me, young man."

"Are you alright like this?" he asked unsurely, looking around for the closest bench. It was quite a bit away and he didn't feel right, leaving an elderly woman so far from it. What if she stumbled on her way back?

"Don't worry about me," she ensured.

He accepted her dismissal in uncertainty, but at this point it would just be embarrassing staying any longer fretting about the old lady. So he turned to leave, but hadn't even made a step when she spoke again.

"Oh, and Hero-san," she croaked, "the Rindou also means something else," she said as if she just thought about it. He waited patiently, but really not all that interested. "It stands for love." He sensed that there was more to come, so he waited another few seconds. "Lonely love. Like loving somebody, who isn't there. Who is maybe gone, or far away, or who doesn't love you back." It was for a moment as if she was lost in her own thoughts contemplating the meaning of the flower. Enji swallowed uncomfortably. "Or love for somebody who is full of sorrow." She added sadly. "It's really a sad thing." For a moment Enji's and her eyes met. "If you come back in August, she should bloom again. Why don't you try finding a winter flower?" she suggested then.

"Winter flower?" he repeated stupidly, still lost over her prior words.

"There," she waved over a bit down the path, back behind where he had ducked under the peach tree. "In the more sheltered area for example, the Amaryllis will already bloom. They stand for Shyness," she informed him as if Enji had asked or was actually interested in the meaning of flowers. He wasn't, he decided. Just now, thinking about just the meaning of this one flower gave him headaches. Was it unreasonable to hate flowers?

"And pride," she added after another lengthy pause, "according to the westerners."

Enji nodded again a bit impatiently now. He should get going before she could start talking about even more flowers. "How do they look?" he asked, revealing his utter lack of knowledge in the department. "So, I know which one to get?"

"Oh, they are beautiful. They may vary a bit in color, but most of them should be red." She smiled her toothless smile. "A bit like your hair. And white. Red and white, yes."

Red and White, he thought baffled.

So, when the civilian Todoroki Enji entered the Musutafu Institute for Mental Health through the main entrance, he didn't have any flowers with him. He didn't even look for the Amaryllis, preferred coming empty-handed.

The Institute itself was part of the much bigger Grand Musutafu Hospital. Ten years ago, he had chosen this institute for its sublime reputation and tight security courtesy of its close ties to the Hero Association and UA.

As a kid, he himself had undergone treatment here, so it had been the obvious choice when he found Shoto hurt and Rei sobbing helplessly on the kitchen floor after that fateful night. Shoto had been in shock, so much so, that later he would hardly remember how he had gotten to the hospital. Enji had called the ambulance and they had taken Shoto and his father to the nearest emergency unit. Later he had called the kids' maid to take care of the older children when they came back from school, and then he had left Shoto alone in the hospital for a few hours as soon as the kid fell asleep.

He had found Rei where he had left her, still on the kitchen floor, that blasted empty kettle still steaming a little in a puddle on the floor. His wife had stopped crying, but she still hadn't really calmed down. Instead, it was as if she had gone apathetic. She just stared right through him as if he wasn't even there. She hadn't said anything nor fought him or resisted when he lifted her to her feet to lead her to the family car. It had been eerily silent in the vehicle until he drove into the parking lot in front of the hospital, shut down the engine and exited the car. As soon as he opened her car door, it was as if the fog lifted from her mind, and suddenly she screamed at him, hit him with her weak fists and scratched the hand with which he tried to unbuckle her seat belt.

He had been angry with her, of course, and irritated and embarrassed with her sudden outbreak in public, so instead of showing patience, he had dragged her through the main entrance, cut the line in front of the reception and thrown around his hero license to get priority treatment.

It had taken hardly five minutes for the psychiatrist to appear and as soon as she had seen Rei's erratic behavior, she had asked to talk to Rei alone. Truthfully, Enji had been glad to leave … Rei was in a fury and he was getting a headache from her wailing.

That had been the last time he had seen her. He had tried to visit of course, over the years to satisfy what he assumed was either some lingering guilt or just marital duty to stay updated on her state, and much more regularly after his ascent to the #1 Hero, but he hadn't actually seen her. The doctors advised against it.

Today, though, he would finally see her. He had to.

The young man at the reception obviously knew him.

"Enji Todoroki," he gave his name regardless. "I'm here to visit my wife."

The young man who had been staring at him with huge bulging eyes, as if Enji was the devil himself, finally managed to close his open jaw and nodded frantically. "Of course, just a…," his fingers danced over his keyboard. "Ah, right. You, uhm…," he stopped short. "There is a doctor's note, that the only visitors allowed to see her alone are, well, your children, I guess."

Enji rubbed the bridge of his nose a bit annoyed. "I know. But there is something very important Rei and I need to discuss. Can we make an exception?" he asked, but then he already changed his mind. "Or maybe I could talk to her doctor? Tanaka-sensei, I think."

The young man moved the cursor a little bit, clicked a few times, then he nodded. "I'll inform her about your presence. Should I put in a priority call?"

Enji shook his head. He wasn't here on hero business. "No, but maybe you could tell her to hurry a bit. I have to go on patrol later."

"Of course, En—," it was obvious the man wanted to say 'Endeavor' before he caught himself, "Todoroki-san. If you could wait for a moment?"

He nodded somewhat confused. Sure, he was used to this hero-worshipping look on the faces of the people around him, when they met him, but he didn't really expect it anymore these days. Was the man not watching the news?

He shook off his irritation and entered a more private waiting-room meant for heroes and employees in the hero and security business. Almost every hospital had these rooms nowadays, which were meant to protect the heroes' privacy. There was one other person sitting in a corner reading a newspaper, not even looking up when Enji entered. Enji glanced at the bald man with scrutinizing eyes, then he decided he was glad the man didn't look up and didn't involve him in a conversation.

Twenty-five minutes later, he decided the man was probably only here to read his newspaper in peace and quiet, as he was neither called out for treatment nor did he check his watch impatiently the way Enji did.

Thirty minutes had passed and Enji grew a bit angsty, fearing he wouldn't manage to get this done before the patrol. It had been a stupid idea, he thought, to visit Rei today, when he was on a bit of a time crunch. It couldn't have been helped though.

Forty-five minutes. The man on the other side of the room quietly turned another page of the book he had switched to, after he had finished the newspaper. He still didn't acknowledge Enji's existence.

Almost fifty minutes and there was finally noise on the other side of the door, before it was abruptly pushed open. The young man from the reception stood there looking at him. "Ah, Todoroki-san. If you could follow me? Tanaka-sensei has now time to see you."

"Great," he muttered trying not to complain about the long wait.

The psychiatrist's office was on the second floor to the west, with a broad window through which the evening winter sun now shone, almost blinding Enji when he opened the door. It was small and not very luxurious. A desk with a work-computer, a few chairs, and one wall full of bookshelves.

"Todoroki-san," Tanaka greeted as soon as he entered, ducking his head a bit because of the low door frame. Her voice was cool and professional. Enji knew she didn't like him much, after all she better than anybody knew the details about his married life. Still, she mostly treated him with professional courtesy, which sometimes made him wonder if she treated her more villainous patients – because villains too … especially villains needed mental treatment – the same way.

Tanaka shuffled some papers on her desk, until Enji had sat down opposite her. "So, I was informed that you wanted to see your wife," she said matter of factly. "Didn't we have this conversation before? As her doctor I still don't think it's a good idea."

"I'm aware," Enji said seriously, "but there are some things I have to discuss with her."

"If this is about your statement on TV, I fear this doesn't really change anything. Your wife is still in a very fragile state. While she is much better now than she was years ago, there is still cause for concern that seeing you might throw her recovery years back." Tanaka sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Can't this wait?"

"It's important. What I want to tell her concerns our children and I think she needs to hear it."

"Your children visit once a week, at the least. I'm sure if there's something she needs to know about them, they will tell her the next time they visit."

"Not about those three," Enji explained, "about our oldest son: Touya."

Now there was obvious confusion on Tanaka's face making it quite obvious that neither Natsuo nor the other two had informed Rei about Touya. But she needed to know.

"But Touya… Has there been some new development?" she asked surprised. "I'm sorry, but I fear in this case more than anything I can't let you through."

Enji frowned in confusion, so she explained: "Just seeing you might cause a setback, but being so directly reminded of the greatest trauma in her life definitely will. I'm sorry, but your wife was already in my care, when poor Touya died, and I've seen the effects firsthand. It more than destroyed all the progress we had made in her recovery. How important is this really?"

"Very," Enji answered shortly, however, because he realized he wouldn't get anywhere with half-answers, he added: "I'm sure she would want to hear this: Touya is still alive."

There was a long, stunned silence. Tanaka moved some papers, clearly in shock. It was as if she was just moving the documents around on her desk to busy her hands while she tried to make sense of his words. "I… excuse me, did you say 'alive'?"

"Yes," Enji answered. "Not just that, he's a villain now. I'm not sure if this will shock Rei even more, but I'm sure to find out her oldest son is still alive would be a great relief."

"Of course. Although she did accept his loss just recently. Having this hope returned to her… This is very good news. I am happy for you and I'm sure she will be very happy too, but we should still expect complications in her recovery because of this."

"I'm prepared for this," Enji admitted. Finding out Touya was still alive had thrown even him off course, what it would do to his much more emotionally fragile wife, he couldn't even begin to imagine. "But she needs to know," he argued.

"Of course. Though I think it would be better if one of your children… I assume they know already?" she questioned.

"They know," he affirmed, "although not all of them believe it."

Tanaka sighed in understanding. "Understandable. I'm not sure I quite believe it myself. Your wife might have some trouble with this too. But you are sure?"

Enji nodded grimly. He was sure. "I would have preferred it, if Natsuo could tell her, but I think if he wanted to, he would have already talked to his mother about this. Maybe he doesn't want to broach the subject," Enji could only guess. Maybe Natsuo was just trying to put off the inevitable. "Anyway, I doubt me asking him to come and finally tell her will make him move any faster." And thinking about it now, Enji much preferred talking to Rei himself. First, it would be easier to explain everything himself without risking other people miscontructing the details. Secondly, he didn't feel right, demanding that from his children when he felt it was his obligation. Lastly, maybe for entirely selfish reasons: He wanted to see Rei himself.

He hadn't seen her for years and even during the last few months, when he had actually tried to see her, he had just stood in front of locked doors, silently leaving a flower behind when she wasn't in her room, obligated to leave again, before she would come back. He wanted to see her again, without the screaming, and the fighting, and the horrified shock that had dominated their last encounter when he had brought her to the institute.

"Okay," Tanaka relented finally, "I will allow it. But a colleague and I will be with you in the room, and we will warn her first, so she can properly prepare herself. You will only get thirty minutes to say your part, after that, I want you to leave quietly and without complaint." She looked at him with an almost threatening glare. Enji quickly agreed to the terms. "Oh," she added as if she just now thought about this, "and if you make a scene or start behaving or talking aggressively, I will have you removed from the clinic. Is that understood? We risk enough just letting you two see each other face-to-face, I won't let you further jeopardize her recovery. If I see you act in any way that could be even remotely intimidating…," she left the threat open for him to fill with his own imagination.

Enji Todoroki nodded again, a bit more subdued now, checking almost subconsciously if he had completely put out his flames, which of course he had.

At last, she seemed satisfied with the way he squirmed under her scrutiny, because she nodded. "Wait here. I'll call you as soon as she's ready."

With that all said, she left him in her office and Enji found himself fiddling with a stapler on the desk. He should prepare what words to say, he thought dumbly, but his head felt like it was filled with cotton.

Instead of looking for words, he found himself repeating the command she had given him: Don't look intimidating, don't look intimidating. He was a man well over six feet, with a giant scar marring half his face. It seemed like there was little he could do, that Rei – who was a slip of a woman herself – wouldn't immediately be intimidated by. He was an intimidating man.

However, when the door opened again, after what felt like an eternity but couldn't have been more than a few minutes, he blinked at the entrance stupidly. That was a surprise: Instead of Tanaka, there now stood a man like a bear in the door. He filled the entire door frame with his massive body, dressed in light blue scrubs.

Enji rose almost on instinct, not being used to being looked down upon like this. Then he ducked his head in understanding. Tanaka had probably looked for the biggest man she could find working for the hospital, to give Rei some security. Sure, at the end of the day Enji was a trained hero and this man wouldn't be much of a challenge if it came to a fight, but that wasn't the point. The point was that there was somebody in the room whose physical presence could almost match Enji's own.

Rei would still know that Enji as a hero would be superior, she'd probably also recognize the meaty contours under the scrubs as belonging to a man thoroughly out of shape, but still… This… What was he? A nurse or an assistant doctor? Anyway, he was almost as tall and even broader than Enji.

"Todoroki-san," the man said in a higher tone than Enji expected. "Tanaka-san told me I would find you here. My name is Matsumoto," he stumbled over a nervous bow that Enji answered with a slight incline of his head. "if you would please follow me?"

He followed Matsumoto to Rei's room.

"I should tell you not to initiate physical contact, unless Rei moves first," Matsumoto explained before he opened the door. For a moment Enji met his eyes. There was some measure of reluctance in the eyes of the other, as if he knew what Enji had done. Tanaka must have briefed him on Enji's past with his wife and what Matsumoto's role in this meeting would be. For just a second there was a challenge in those dark brown eyes, then Matsumoto looked away, as if too fearful to face Enji.

Rei… She'd be right behind that door, he knew, when Matsumoto pushed the door open. Right here she was, after ten years and for a second Enji felt thrown back in time and Rei hadn't aged a day.

* * *

A/N: Haaah! Finally! Who wants to meet Rei? I've been trying to get her into this story for so long, I'm just glad it's finally happening. What do you think will happen next week? Will he tell her about Touya? How will she react? Any guesses?

On a different note, I recently in conversation with one of you, had the idea to make some sort of 'trivia' section in my story. I have quite a few of OC's now, who will pop up every now and then all over this story. Many of these characters may not get flashed out much, and some others - maybe due to their role and jobs in the story - may get fleshed out, but there will still be information left out - like for example Quirks, family history, full names... So if you're interested to just get a bit of trivia information on the OC's (that may or may not be relevant in this story at some point) like for example Inari's quirk, I may add this trivia section and reveal one or two small pieces of information in every new chapter. What do you think?

Last week, some readers mentioned that they would like o see what Hawks thinks about all this. I really still don't quite know, when or how to bring him back for the story. In my current planning, he doesn't really fit in until way in the future, but I'm not really happy with this, as I too want to see some sort of reaction from him. My current alternative would be to write a 'I'm Watching!' chapter about him next. Currently, I have quite a lot of ideas for new chapters there, but I think a Hawks-chapter soon would be good. The next on the list there is currently a 'Shoto II' chapter, but if you want to, I could put Hawks in next. Would you like that?

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. It's a bit of Set-up (and me just enjoying to write Enji talk to random people), but since Rei's situation is so complicated, i needed this set-up to make it all feel natural, I felt. I hope you had a great weekend.


	23. Rei

Hello,

it's finally time to get this chapter done with! Again, my beta still is a bit occupied so I couldn't send her the final draft yet, and there may be another final update later on.

However, about the chapter... whew. I really hope you like it since this was so long in the making. I pretty much started imagining and writing this scene months ago, because I feel it is very important in Enji's and Rei's story. I also know that many of you were looking forward to meeting Rei since forever ago, plus with the Manga pushing Rei back into the story just two weeks ago, it really was time to getting her into this story. I hope you aren't disappointed!

Anyway, have fun with the chapter!

* * *

 **Rei**

Matsumoto closed the door behind him, but Enji hardly registered it. Tanaka sat on a chair next to the bed, but Enji didn't really look at her either. Tanaka's hand rested calmly on the light grey linens of the bed for Rei to grab in a moment of fright, but so far, Rei hadn't grabbed it, so it laid lonely on the mattress right next to Rei.

It was her that Enji's eyes were glued on. She sat ramrod straight on her bed, looking at him with a mixture of uncertainty and naked fear. She looked a little bit like a deer caught in the headlights when Enji's eyes met hers. Her fingers were fiddling nervously in her lap as if she really needed to hold something if only to distract herself.

She didn't say anything, so at the moment of his entrance, there was just oppressive silence. He waited for a bit, but she remained quiet, waiting. Enji registered Tanaka staring at him and it was only then that Enji coughed embarrassedly.

"Uh," he started helplessly, "hello Rei. Long time no see." He inwardly cringed at his own words. 'Long time no see'? He made it sound as if they were just old schoolmates meeting the first time in years just by coincidence.

Still, the words seemed to somewhat take the edge off her fear. He could hear her audibly release her breath and just for a second her eyes flickered to Matsumoto who had sat down on a different chair on her side of the room. It was a black swivel chair next to the desk turned around so Matsumoto faced Enji. Then Rei's grey eyes focused on his face, as if she hadn't really seen him before. There was a clear spark there, that he didn't quite remember from so many years ago. Her grey eyes seemed more awake. Other than that, she still looked the same. As if hardly a day had passed.

"What happened to your face?" She wondered instead of greeting. The question just slipped past her lips and once it was out, she looked as if she was shocked to hear it herself. Her right hand immediately moved up to her face, covering her mouth as if she regretted the words already.

He found himself unconsciously mirroring her gesture, with his fingers touching his scar. "Uh, that," he answered in a deadpan voice. "I had a fight." He looked around the room, but there didn't seem to be a TV or anything. Just a big window facing the patio, an empty vase sitting on the window sill and blue curtains. To the right of the window was her bed, where Rei was sitting and looking at him, on the other side of the window was a desk where Matsumoto sat quietly. A painted still life hung over the desk, the only thing decorating the beige colored walls. To Endeavor's right was a wardrobe, a cupboard and a sink. Most of Rei's personal belongings were in that corner. "You didn't see?"

"I…," there was a brief helpless glance in Tanaka's direction, but after the doctor nodded encouragingly, Rei went on, "no. I didn't see it. Fuyumi told me, but I didn't think… I imagined it less… obvious, I guess."

Enji found himself smiling wistfully. And suddenly everything fell apart.

He could just stare in confusion and helplessness, as she burst into tears. What had he done wrong? He glanced at Tanaka silently asking her to help his wife, because this wasn't planned, whatever he had done wrong wasn't on purpose and if Tanaka could maybe do something to help his wife?

But Tanaka didn't really do anything. Instead she just moved a little closer to Rei, but other than that she just let her cry her eyes out. Why wasn't she doing anything?! Wasn't that her job? He found himself moving one step forward, because if the doctor wouldn't help his wife, then he had to do it, but he froze again immediately remembering that he wasn't supposed to be the one initiating the physical contact.

"What's wrong?" he asked a bit harshly in his confusion and almost-panic. He looked at his wife, who hunched in on herself a little while crying, furiously wiping at her cheeks but the tears were spilling faster than she could wipe them away. "Did I do something?" he asked confused, because he didn't even remember saying anything noteworthy. Was his scar alone so frightening that she couldn't stand the sight of him?

He glanced at Tanaka again. "Should I leave?" he wondered quietly as if hoping, Rei wouldn't be able to hear it.

Rei said something through her tears and sobs, but he couldn't even make out the words.

Maybe he should leave, he thought a bit more decisively. It had been a bad idea and Tanaka had warned him about the possible repercussions, but he just had to stay stubborn. He should have just asked Natsuo to finally tell his mother about what had happened. Natsuo might have done it in his own time or Enji would have to pressure him a little, either way that would have still been a better alternative to _himself_. As long as Rei knew about Toyua, was it really important who told her, or if she was told now or some few days later?

He was about to leave, when he heard Tanaka order him back. "Stay for a moment longer, please, Todoroki-san," she asked now with a tentative hand on Rei's shoulder but still not doing anything to alleviate his wife's invisible pain. "Sit," it was worded like a command, as she pointed at the last of the empty chairs.

It wasn't a very comfortable chair and it was a bit too low for his liking, which had been the reason he hadn't sat down on it when he first entered the room. Now he sat down immediately, feeling a bit like an adult sitting low on a kid's chair. Similarly to Rei earlier, he started fiddling with his hands, so he crossed his arms in front of his chest to stop himself. After another second, he opened his arms again, thinking that posture would only make him look more intimidating. As intimidating as a man could look, who sat on a plastic chair built for a person a foot or two smaller than him. His fingers now curled around the edges of his seat, which automatically made him sit up a bit straighter which in turn made him look more nervous. He must have given a ridiculous sight, he feared when he heard Tanaka's silent snort about his posture.

"Rei?" he started again, after he had finally found his halfway comfortable sitting position. "Do you want me to leave?"

By now, it looked as if Rei had calmed down a bit. She was still sobbing audibly, and he couldn't see most of her face other than the tear-streaked chin behind a curtain of white hair, but apparently, now at least she registered his question. "N-no," she hiccupped, "no-o, I… I'm fi-fine." Enji nodded unbelieving, because if she was fine, why would she sob as if the world was ending. "I ju-ust didn't ex-pect…" He didn't understand the rest of her words.

"My scar?" he wondered, thinking she was still talking about that but confused why that would make her break apart like this. It didn't make sense to him. Still, if that was what was so disturbing to her… "I'm sorry," he said sincerely, "but it's not that bad, really." It hardly hurts anymore at least. "Sometimes it's a bit itchy, but that…", he was rambling and there was a soft noise from her that he couldn't quite place and a ridiculous look from Tanaka. He cut himself off. "I could hide it if you want," he suggested, thinking immediately of his flames. "It's not so bad, when my flames are on."

"No, no," Rei said immediately, almost begging in a frightened tone. "Don't… I like you m-more, with-without the flames." Her voice seemed more secure now, but every now and then she interrupted her own words with a sob or hiccup.

He stared at her dumbfoundedly, immediately dismissing the idea of using his fire. "Then a cloth?" he asked, uncertain. "Maybe one of those medical masks?" He glanced at Tanaka. "You must have those here somewhere, sensei?"

She only raised a sleek eyebrow at him, as if he was suggesting something extraordinarily stupid.

"No, silly," Rei suddenly said, looking up at him, "it's not yo-your scar." There was a spark in her eyes. Almost as if she… Was she laughing at him?

But his mind was fixated on another thing. "Silly?" he repeated slowly, "did you just call me 'Silly'?" But his voice wasn't threatening or angry, just surprised. Still, from his words alone a look of fearful shock passed over her face. It was only a fleeting thought, as if it was just a memory that was quickly dismissed.

Enji shook his head in confusion. "If it's not my scar, what were you crying about?"

There was a short moment of silence, just long enough for her to take a deep breath as if she prepared herself for something. "You haven't smiled at me since Natsuo was born," she said very quietly almost inaudibly. "I do-on't know if you smiled at anything since then. Really smiled-ed, I mean, not…" her voice drifted away.

He blinked at her twice. "You cried because I smiled?" he wondered. Spoken aloud this sounded even more ridiculous.

She blushed hotly. "Of course, you would find it stupid", she grumbled with a pouty smile, reminding him of their daughter. He had forgotten how similar Rei and Fuyumi were in looks.

And at that sight, Enji smiled again, more openly this time. "Neither have you... smiled at me, in a long time," he said.

They had never really been a happy couple or one of those young, doe-eyed couples. Their marriage had been purposeful and distant from the start, more like a business relationship. But they had been _happier_ once. In their first couple of years of marriage, it almost seemed as if they could make this work. They didn't really love each other, but they could at least be good friends, and more than just tolerate each other. Around Natsuo's birthday they had grown more distant, mostly because of his increasing frustration with his stagnating career.

Now she smiled at him more openly, too, if still very shyly and with the thinly concealed worry, that this fragile peace might shatter at any moment.

Enji sighed at the thought, that very possibly, he would shatter it with his next few words about Touya. He had come to inform her about something very important, not to rekindle a relationship he had ruthlessly destroyed years ago.

"I'm sorry, Rei," he said anyway, instead of mentioning Touya. "I made a lot of mistakes and the way I treated you is pretty much first on that list." She didn't answer. "I'm...," his gaze slipped away from her for a moment, shamefully seeking the ground, but he forced himself to look back up at her. "I'm trying to be better now and do as much as I can to make up for it. I know it won't undo anything, but… I just wanted you to know."

There was a long pause after that. A pause in which he almost held his breath waiting for an answer that would condemn or liberate him, before he reminded himself to breathe.

"I know," she said to his surprise. She didn't specify what it was that she knew or how she knew it, just left it at that, leaving Enji with his confusion. "But I-"

Her words cut off abruptly, as if something was clogging her throat and she couldn't bring them out. Enji looked at her, searching her face for whatever she wanted to say, but her eyes were guarded now and her lips a bit pinched. He was good with reading people after so many years as a Hero, even if he wasn't good with interacting with them. He had the feeling she wanted to say something he wouldn't like and stopped herself maybe for fear. He waited a bit longer for her to continue, but she stayed quiet, so he just left it at that.

There were more important things to discuss, anyway.

"I just wanted to say that before the next thing, I'm going to tell you," just in case they wouldn't get another chance to talk like this ever again. He didn't say that part out loud, though. There was a certain fear in his mind that this would be it. Their last conversation was almost 10 years back, the last time they talked for real about something substantial even longer. How big was the chance, that after this, they would never get another opportunity to talk? What if he was killed the next time he met the League, after he only barely survived twice? What if she had another setback and the doctors advised against another meeting between them? What if the news about Touya would make her react like Fuyumi and turn away from him for good? At least if any of these things happened now, he had already said the most important part.

"It's about Touya," he started slowly and immediately he could see the reaction on her face.

With just the name her guard seemed to shatter, her face showing open vulnerability, grief, loss, and burning anger. She thought him responsible, he realized. Of course, she would. Just because she hadn't been around to show her anger openly didn't mean she wouldn't blame him for her son's supposed death. Of course, she would. And with good reason. He was Touya's father and the only parent around during the time of the – what he now knew had been an accident.

"What about Touya?" she asked, her voice strained.

"I think… No," he started again. "I know. I've seen him. He's alive."

One, two… He could count the seconds. Nobody made a noise.

He made it all the way to seven. Seven seconds of crushing silence.

"What are you talking about, Enji?" she finally said. Her voice sounded almost cool now. "Our son is dead." Deadpan, like a fact she had finally accepted— Only it wasn't a fact.

"I thought so too," he said almost defensively. The hairs on his neck stood on end.

"Our son died six years ago." She sounded like a broken record to him, just stating what she had been told was true— Only it wasn't.

Was it getting colder in the room?

"Rei," his voice was hardly more than a whisper, "Touya is alive. He didn't kill himself."

There was frost appearing on her fingertips and Tanaka suddenly jumped up. "Rei-san!" She exclaimed worriedly. "Please calm down, your quirk! Todoroki-san, please, if you could leave the—"

"No!" Rei bellowed furiously. "What happened to my son?!"

Enji had already jumped up from his chair to leave as the doctor had demanded when he halted. "He's alive," he repeated, "it was just an accident."

"Just an… My beautiful baby boy, of course, he wouldn't kill himself," she muttered, then her eyes focused back on Enji. "Then why was I told, he had died?" Rage twisted her face.

Enji stood rooted to the spot, half of a mind to help Tanaka calm Rei's quirk down, half of a mind to leave, but ultimately doing neither and staying where he was. "We thought he was dead." Still, his answer sounded defensive.

"I get that," she bellowed, frost sneaking up her arms uncaring of Tanaka's attempts at calming her. Rei made to move, but she was never a strong woman and even in her rage she had trouble getting past her physically stronger psychiatrist. Still, he knew that if Rei actually used her quirk, she would not just get past Tanaka, she might seriously injure her.

"Get away from Rei," he hissed at Tanaka who jumped back so fast as if she had just waited for him to say it. She looked almost relieved to be away from Rei who had suddenly turned dangerous, something nobody had really expected.

Matsumoto had stood up from his chair and was coming to restrain Rei with his superior physique.

"Stop," demanded Enji and the other man stopped in his tracks. "Leave her!"

The moment Rei was let go, she jumped from her seating position on the mattress hurling herself at Enji with raised fists. He caught her awkwardly as she almost fell against his chest punching him, tiny specks of ice immediately vaporizing against his heated skin. She produced increasingly stronger ice but it was obvious that not only had she never been really strong, lacking years of training, she also hadn't used her quirk much in those last ten years, so even now with her quirk power increased with her anger, he only had to activate some of his flames to have her ice all vaporize immediately until the room was wet with humidity, condensed water fogging the window and the mirror over the sing.

"I'm sorry," Enji said again, as her attacks finally weakened, until she was only drumming against his chest without even using her quirk anymore. He didn't really do anything. He didn't stop her, nor did he hold her close, he just stood waiting, ignoring the small fists hitting his torso.

Finally, she shoved away from him violently and because she didn't have the strength to actually push him away, he took a tentative step back himself.

"Tell me what happened!" she demanded. Tears were leaking out of her eyes again, but she wasn't sobbing, instead, she stood strong right in front of him, almost intimidating even though she was so much smaller than him.

And so, he did. He told her everything.

 _It was an accident. His quirk, he lost control over it on his way to school but he managed to get away._

It sounded so unreal as he told it. The Police had found his DNA among the ashes, and thus assumed he had incinerated himself. Instead, he had fallen into the river and was saved by some guy, Enji didn't know. Rei was crying as he tried to tell it with as little gruesome detail as he could. Her hands were over her face, covering her mouth and nose, leaving only her angry grey eyes gazing at him with renewed anger.

 _He didn't come back. He didn't think… My fault. He said he didn't think I would..._

The words were stuck in his throat. He could hear Matsumoto's heavy breathing behind him, almost seeking that distraction. It suddenly occurred to him that he did not want this stranger to listen. He didn't want anybody to know. Begrudgingly, he accepted Tanaka in the room, who despite her tall figure seemed to almost blend with the background that he almost forgot she was there. Tanaka was Rei's psychiatrist. So she would find out anyway; she would have to help his wife deal with all this new information. But the man behind him, who was he that he should be privy to Enji's deepest darkest secrets.

 _Touya… he is covered in scars._

He moved his hand, indicating his jaw area, his eyes, chest, arms, all the areas where Dabi had these horrible purple scars. Dark and raw and made even more gruesome, by what had to be purposeful mutilation.

Rei was crying. He realized it somewhat in the back of his mind. He wasn't. She was probably imagining their young son with his red hair, big turquoise eyes, how his cheeks bloomed rosy red when he laughed or was embarrassed. He had always been small for his age, a lot thinner than both his younger brothers. A bit clumsy, and as a teenager with a somewhat righteous attitude. Was she imagining that kid mutilated with scars like the one she had herself inflicted on Shoto. Did she see that innocent boy?

All _he_ saw was black hair, eyes narrowed in hatred and the barrel of a gun against his head. He could not tell her about that, he realized. He could not speak those words, not to her, not even to himself in an empty room with just himself and his sins.

 _Natsuo, you know about his disappearance a few weeks back._

Of course, she knew, but she looked so blissfully unaware, and he realized they hadn't told her. Natsuo hadn't told her, that he had himself been part of that kidnapping, and Fuyumi and Shoto apparently hadn't told her about the involvement of the League of Villains either. It was the only thing that made sense. She was so unaware. Even though it had been her who had realized Natsuo's disappearance first.

 _He was with the League, faked his own kidnapping to test if I would..._

"I thought he was just visiting his girlfriend," she hissed from between clenched teeth, backing away from Enji. "Why would he…? Our sweet boy." She muttered it to herself, but there was a clear accusation in his voice, whether he wanted to hear it or not. Matsumoto's breathing was still heavy and loud and oppressive and he wanted the man out, out, out of the room. This had nothing to do with him! Bad enough that Tanaka was there. He did not want to deal with their accusation on top of Rei's and his own guilt. What did they know!?

"Our son joined the League of Villains?" she asked almost disbelieving but not quite. Not like Fuyumi who had been in absolute denial. Rei sounded as if it seemed utterly unbelievable to her, but she still thought his words were sincere enough. Enji somewhat doubted that she even really knew what the League of Villains was. "And even Natsu… Oh, our sweet boy, how lonely he must have felt to go to such means." She was mostly talking to herself, he reckoned, wrapping thin arms around herself.

Finally, she glanced back up at him. "This is your fault, Enji. You drove our boys away. All they wanted was for you to be proud of them! To spend some time with them! And now..." He let the accusation stand as it was. "Because of you, my oldest son…," suddenly there was a shift in her demeanor. "He's still alive!" The words were like a breath of fresh air, filled with relief and hope and just a tiny tinge of fright as if she was worried this was all a dream and as soon as she woke up, it would turn out to be a lie. "He's alive and I…"

Her eyes focused on him again. Zeroed in on his face with sudden purpose. "I want a divorce."

The words were out in one smooth line, not the stuttering and stumbling and half-sentences she had uttered before. Four crisp little words as if she had thought to speak them a dozen times already until finally there was no doubt left.

"What?" he asked in utter disbelief. He had expected a lot, but not this. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind.

"I want a divorce," she repeated as if she actually thought he hadn't understood the first time; or as if the words were themselves empowering and just saying them would make her stronger. "I want to divorce you," she now rearranged her words.

"I…" It was the shock about the declaration that first left him speechless. His first instinct was to tell her 'no', and maybe list a thousand reasons why not, but he didn't find them. Truthfully, now that he thought about the reasons 'why not' he started wondering why she hadn't divorced him already. Fear, he knew, which was surely not a good reason he should bring up to make her reconsider. And suddenly he knew he could. What she was doing was in many ways a leap of faith. If he wanted to, he could easily intimidate her into not going through with it. He could even do it in a subtle way right in front of Tanaka and Matsumoto, he knew. Probably just telling her 'No' or even 'I'd ask you to reconsider' would be enough. Or asking her to repeat it again and again until her courage would falter. With his lack of response but his obvious adversity to her idea written all over his face, he could already see her hunch in on herself.

Finally, he realized, there was only one thing he could do. Only one right answer to what was never really a question.

"Okay," he said finally.

* * *

 **A/N** : Whew, I'm so sorry, Enji. But I had to do this.

I've thought about whether it's possible to save this marriage or not, but finally, I decided whether I want them to reconcile in the end or not, the first step has to be for Rei to get out of this marriage. I swear, I wrote this before the developments in recent chapters. So, I like the way Horikoshi 'solved' this but I decided to just keep it the way I imagined it before the developments in the manga threw a wrench in my plans. So here the separation isn't Enji's idea but rather Rei's. Ultimately I think (and from recent chapters I assume Horikoshi thought the same) that for Rei to get better and out of the hospital, she needed a safe place to go to, and I felt this safe place would not exist as long as they were married and lived in the same house. I honestly didn't even get the idea that they could live separated but still be married :D. I also wanted Rei to be the one deciding she wanted the divorce because I felt in a way it was an oddly empowering move to say to her abuser (even if he's doing better now) that she wants to get out of this marriage that really only served to oppress and harm her. In the end, I don't want to discourage any Enji/Rei-shippers, I just felt that if there will ever be a reconciliation between Enji and Rei it should not be 'because they are stuck in a marriage that really hasn't made either of them happy and now they just have to make it work'.

So, as I mentioned last week there will be a 'Rei I' Chapter in 'I'm Watching!'. That will be uploaded in a few days. Maybe Thursday. Last week, if you haven't seen I uploaded the 'Shoto II'. Next week, I don't know yet, if I can make the update by Sunday, but you'll get the next chapter on Monday at the latest. It will deal a bit with the aftermath of this decision to divorce and Enji finally getting back to work. It will also probably be a very long chapter.


	24. On Patrol

The next few chapters will be a bit of a mix between Hero work and Endeavor going out to interact with strangers, and continuing the family drama. I realized writing actual hero work, action and patrols was a lot more difficult than I assumed. I hope the chapter is halfway okay :D

* * *

On Patrol

He was oddly calm when he left the hospital and drove back to the Agency to change into his hero costume and start his first patrol in what felt like forever. When Rei had said that word – 'divorce' – it had felt like a punch to the gut at first, but now… maybe this was meant to happen.

Maybe it would be easier that way. Like a stone falling off his chest. In a way, he knew, they had both been locked in that marriage, both unhappy, and now Rei's words might have liberated them both.

He looked down at his phone before he pressed the green button and waited. Natsuo didn't need long to pick up. But he didn't say anything. No 'Hello', nothing. By now Enji was almost expecting that silence. He didn't call Natsuo often. Phone conversations with Natsuo were always unpleasant. Even now after his apparent kidnapping, when Natsuo didn't just ignore his calls or hang up on him as soon as he knew it was his father on the other end, they were still some of Enji's least favorite calls to make. It was so bad Enji tried to call as little as possible, and maybe that had been Natsuo's goal from the start.

It was just awkward to talk to Natsuo. The boy made no secret of the fact that he didn't want to talk to him, nor did he have anything to say to him and that the only reason he didn't hang up was so Enji had no reason to assume he'd been kidnapped again. For a teenager who had just found himself in the hands of a notorious group of villains not too long ago, he was oddly nonchalant about it, nor did he seem to have any concerns for his own safety. Maybe that was, because in Natsuo's own mind, Enji guessed, he hadn't really been kidnapped.

"Hi, Natsuo," Enji started talking into the oppressive silence Natsuo left him in, "it's me. I want to meet you soon. Tomorrow, if you have time." On Saturdays Natsuo didn't have any classes.

"What?" His son's voice sounded incredulous. "If this is because of your publicity stunt today, I've seen it, but there's really nothing we need to talk about."

Enji rubbed his temples annoyed. Of course, Natsuo would decline. Still it bugged Enji that Natsuo stepped so casually on what had felt like a big step for Enji himself. He hadn't called to get some recognition for 'having apologized' or anything. Really, he hadn't! And he would have been just fine if Natsuo had never mentioned it. Even if he hadn't watched the interview on TV at all. He might have felt disappointed… maybe a bit, but still fine. He knew there was still a mile to go, and he had only barely made his first step. If Natsuo had just ignored it, fine… but did he have to scoff about it, trample all over it? It left Enji without words for a moment.

"Fine, if that's all—" Natsuo was about to hang up.

"Wait, it's not. It's not about the interview. It's about your mother," Enji hurried to say.

"About mother?" Now Natsuo seemed worried and suspicious, but at least Enji had his attention.

"I told her about Touya." Enji admitted.

He could hear Natsuo breath in sharply. "You did what? When?" The question tumbled out of his mouth leaving Enji no time to answer. "Why would you…? Just now? How did she-?"

"Calm down!" Enji demanded and although Natsuo would normally do his best to do exactly the opposite of whatever Enji told him to do, now he actually shut up abruptly. "I just came from visiting her and…"

"What did you do?" he hissed.

Angrily, Enji snapped back: "What do you think I did?" For a second he waited for an answer, then he decided he actually didn't want to hear it. "Wait, don't answer! Your mother is fine. But there are some things I need to discuss with you, Fuyumi and Shoto."

"Okay?" Natsuo said a bit distractedly. He was moving on his end of the line. Enji could hear him shuffle around in his room. "Ah damn, it's too late to visit now." He muttered and Enji knew he was talking to himself. "You just had to visit so late." He huffed into the phone a bit reproachful. "What do you need to talk about?"

"I want to tell you in person." He didn't really need to, if he were completely honest. If they were a normal family, he assumed telling children that their parents would divorce would be a serious enough issue that you first had to sit them all down in a hopefully peaceful environment where they could all talk freely. They weren't a normal family, though, and part of him was pretty sure, Natsuo's day specifically would even improve with this message. Still, he was selfish, again. Earlier today he had selfishly visited Rei because he wanted to see her, arguing nobody else could or should tell her about Touya. Now he finally had a good excuse to see Natsuo again. And he had wanted to talk to the boy eye-to-eye since he had woken up in the hospital and found out Natsuo was back at the University and apparently 'very busy'.

Of course, he also had to tell Shoto and Fuyumi, but Shoto had his second Provisional License Exam tomorrow and he didn't want to distract him. And Fuyumi…

Maybe he was just looking for an excuse not to tell Fuyumi. He feared her reaction more than anybody's.

"If it's really necessary," Natsuo muttered on his end. "When do you want to meet?"

Enji was relieved the boy didn't argue. Saying it had something to do with his mother, had apparently done wonders against his reluctance to meet his father.

"I thought tomorrow morning," Enji hurried to say. "We could meet at the hospital. Then you could visit Rei just after. I think it would be good for her, if you could answer some of her questions." If Rei had questions about Touya, Natsuo would be better suited to answer them than even Enji himself. He really thought it would be best for Rei. And as an added bonus, the hospital was 'neutral territory'. He could get a private moment with Natsuo in the hero anteroom. Natsuo would probably not like to visit Enji – at least not if Fuyumi wasn't around – and would be even less likely to invite Enji into his small dorm room. But in the hospital… Never mind that it was a public enough space that they would both try to avoid screaming at each other.

Natsuo probably thought along the same line when he agreed. "In the hospital sounds good. But Shoto has his Exam tomorrow. Shouldn't he be there too, so you can tell all of us together whatever it is you want to say?"

"No," Enji answered quickly, "just you and me. I'll tell Fuyumi and Shoto on Monday. Or you tell them," he added because that selfish part of him still didn't want to see Fuyumi's reaction. "But I just think you and I should talk first. Because of Touya. Your mother will have some questions."

"Huh," Natsuo muttered under his breath, "yeah, I see. It would probably not be good if Fuyumi were there and try to convince Mum it's just one of your lies." That too, Enji thought, although it hadn't been his reason. "Ah, Fuyumi will be furious, that you told her."

Enji wanted to ask Natsuo, if he had tried to tell her, that Touya was really alive and with the League, or rather, why he didn't tell her. But the words stuck in his throat. All those things he could ask tomorrow, if he got the chance. So, he just nodded. "Yes," he said, "so…"

"Tomorrow is fine. Eight?"

Endeavor agreed and before he could properly say 'good-bye', Natsuo had already ended the call.

He stared at his phone, then he put it back into the pouch on the belt of his costume and looked outside the window of the Agency. It had started to rain outside. 'Time to start his patrol,' he decided, pressing the button to call the elevator, while simultaneously activating the flames on his costume, boots and face.

He still needed to concentrate a bit more to use the fire, even if it was for such an easy task. Normally, this would all go subconsciously. Instead, he was once again reminded of the fact that he wasn't the same hero. He had become weak. Pathetic, what Hero – never mind Number One – couldn't accurately use their own quirk. His flames flickered shortly, and he wasn't even sure himself if that was his quirk giving out on him for just a split second or if it was the slight breeze when the elevator doors opened in front of his face.

He had a weird feeling when he started his patrol. Not a bad feeling, per se, not the precognition before a catastrophe… Just… It was like during his first days as an intern, when he was still a UA-student. It was as if he had to learn everything anew. For a moment he felt helpless and clueless and pathetic and fearful of screwing up and just a bit excited in a way he hadn't felt for 30 years.

When he stepped out of the elevator at ground level, he could already see Avalanche and Silent Tracker coming back from their patrol shift. A bunch of the younger sidekicks waited for him. Despite how many had left his agency recently, he was reminded that the agency was still a big one.

"So, if you're ready to take over," Silent Tracker said in a hurry, already taking off her gloves and hood, "I need to go. I promised my wife that we'd eat out tonight. Haven't had time for her recently." Akemi Uchida was a tall young woman with short brown locks. "Avalanche will write the report today. After your statement, there was another outbreak of petty crime." She spoke in a casual tone as if she spoke about the weather and not about an increase in crime that was Enji's fault. There was also no accusing undertone in her voice. "I gotta go," she shouldered past him and prepared to leave, before she turned at the elevator to look back at Avalanche. "Want me to take you home, Wataru?"

"Sure," answered the man who still stood next to Endeavor. With his 31 years, Wataru Yasui was a bit older than Uchida. His hero-name was Avalanche – which also happened to be the name of his quirk. He still wore the boots, mask and fur jacket that were part of his hero costume, that only barely concealed his dirty blond hair. He gave a half-hearted shrug. "Just give me a second. I need to get out of costume first."

Silent Tracker scrunched up her pointy nose in a show of both impatience and amusement. "You really need to get your car fixed soon. I can't keep driving you around." She threw a hasty wave in Endeavor's direction. "Don't get into any trouble, boss. See you tomorrow." With that she left with Wataru hastily hurrying after her.

Enji looked after them for a moment, then he looked back at the two young sidekicks remaining.

He had to pull himself together, he knew. Whatever stress he had in his personal life, he couldn't afford to let it spill into his professional life. He knew himself, that was easier said than done. "You two, with me," he ordered and found their loud responses entirely too enthusiastic.

Five minutes later he was out on the streets again. It was already late into the evening, but not so late that the streets were empty. Instead, there was still a steady stream of people, who were going home from sports activities, or school, or a late workday, or some others who just left their houses to go visit a friend, family or – like Silent Tracker – take their partner out to dinner. The streets were still alive, but they weren't buzzing the way they did during rush-hour.

Endeavor was quite thankful for that, as even the few people that were out and about stared at him with open mouths, whispering to their friends. If there had been more, he assumed, they might have ganged up on him, bombard him with insults or questions and hinder him from doing his job. He had no doubt about it. The way it was, however, it seemed as few as they were, they were lacking the courage to directly confront him. Maybe the cold late November drizzle was also a reason they didn't linger too long to talk about or stare at him.

Some of the whispers filtered through to him, as they always did.

"Hey, that's Endeavor!" – "Yeah, I can see him. Don't stare!" – "Did you watch the news today?"

"Does he really think he can just go about his life, now that we know what he did?"

"Do you think it's true? That he burned his own son?"

"I heard he paid his kids off, that they wouldn't talk to the press!" – "Nah, I heard he beat them until they agreed to it." – "What? Horrible!" – "No, what? He didn't even leave his house all week." – "Then they are afraid that he would beat them. Or he threatened them. I don't know, but why else wouldn't they go public." – "Maybe they don't want to…You know how it is. Emotional attachment to the abuser. That's almost like… Stockholm Syndrome or something like that, you know." – "Horrible! I can't even imagine…" – "Nah, it's not Stockholm, idiot!"

"You think he killed his wife?" – "What? Who said that?" – "Someone on the internet." – "Don't believe everything they say. I heard he put her into the hospital." – "Yeah, the guy said she died there!" – "Hah?" – "He beat her comatose and then she died, and now he's covering it up!" – "That's ridiculous. We'd know about that." – "And how would we know? We didn't know anything he did before."

When he was out on patrol, he always kept his mind and perception open and aware. Nothing would go past him. Not a word spoken in his vicinity would go unheard. It was necessary to be one step ahead of a potential attack. Now, it also meant he could hear every word they spoke.

"How can he just show himself on the street!" – "I don't mind." – "What? You think it's fine they let him keep his license?" – "No, but if he's on the street, we can show him. If the guys up high don't want to punish him..." – "What?" – "Now that he's not protected by his security."

Up until now, Endeavor had more or less succeeded in ignoring the whispers. Over the years he had gotten a lot of experience walking down the streets and ignoring the fact that he stuck out like a sore thumb and everybody knew him. A few months ago, it had mostly been admiration and hero-worship with the rare open critic out on the street. Then there had been increasingly distrusting voices thinking he couldn't fulfill his new position. Now, the whispers and glares had turned increasingly hateful and insulting, but, really, blanking them out wasn't much harder than the others. It hurt a bit more, of course, but the same principle applied. So, he just walked on, trying not to react and not to give them any new reasons to dislike him.

Now, however, that the voices turned increasingly hostile he stopped suddenly and turned around to glare at a group of young men, who seemed only a bit older than Natsuo. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see his two young sidekicks becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

"I bet we could take him!" One of them declared convinced looking at his two comrades. "What's he supposed to do? We're not villains, he can't just go and use his quirk on us."

"That's not how it works," a slightly smaller boy replied. "Of course he can use his quirk when we attack. He's a hero, and he's on patrol. That would be like attacking a police officer."

The three men didn't even look at him anymore instead they were focused on each other, with the biggest of them trying to convince the others to join in his attempt to take Endeavor down.

"But he deserves it! That would be different!"

It was only now that one of the men, who had hardly spoken before looked up and saw Enji glaring at him.

"Yeah, but we'd still—"

"Guys," interrupted the third looking wide-eyed at Endeavor. "Shut up." He nodded jerkily in Endeavor's direction. Immediately the other two whirled around, staring at him too.

"Ah! Eh- I…," stuttered the one who had just been interrupted, but Endeavor didn't really look at him, instead he looked almost challengingly at the biggest of the three who had so openly proclaimed his will to attack Endeavor.

Now, the stranger shrunk in on himself, as if he suddenly lost a third of his body height, with his head hunching down between his shoulders. "E-eh…, I did… didn't… eh," he muttered stuttering haltingly. Then one of his friends grabbed his sleeve and dragged him away.

Endeavor turned away to continue his patrol wishing something would happen, only so he could get his mind off the whispers. He had hardly patrolled the streets for a quarter of an hour, and he already felt as if he wanted to cut his obligations short and leave four hours early.

As if the gods had mercy upon him for once in these last weeks it was right then, that he heard the telltale beeping of a car alarm.

Normally he would maybe leave these kinds of cases – when there was nobody in real danger – to his sidekicks or interns if he had them with him, or the police, but now he immediately started sprinting in the direction of the noise, if only to find something to occupy his mind with.

Indeed, as he turned around the corner away from the main street, he could already see the origin of the noise. It was a silver Toyota. One of the newer models, but already with a thick layer of dust on it. The alarm signal was blaring loudly across the street. The culprit stood hunched at the front door, trying to get it open.

He wasn't successful. At least not in the time Endeavor needed to be at his side, grab him at the shoulders and drag the thief away from the car.

There was a loud yelling, the young boy obviously surprised by the sudden assault as he landed hard on his side skidding a bit over the wet pavement. For a second Endeavor considered if he had used too much force and seriously harmed the kid, when the boy already jumped back on his feet. He looked ready to fight at first, but as his eyes landed on Endeavor, that fighting spirit seemed to die out immediately.

"End-!", the kid yelled scared. He didn't look much older than Shoto. "What are you doing here?!" He screamed as if he was really shocked to see Endeavor, then he whirled around and ran.

Endeavor blinked once in surprise, then he sighed in annoyance. Of course, the kid had to run! That was just his luck. Endeavor made to run after him, with the sidekicks only now arriving at the scene and remained with the car to inspect it for any damage.

The kid was fast, Enji had to give him that. But Endeavor was much better trained. Still, the kid managed to get down the street, around a corner and then turned left into a smaller alley, before the hero managed to catch up to him. Admittedly, he could have caught him faster, if he had used his quirk to propel himself forward, but he didn't. Maybe he feared his quirk would once again act up and he would needlessly embarrass himself, or he simply didn't want to scorch the pavement. It didn't really matter; he was fast enough on foot.

"Stop!" Enji commanded, his long strides catching up fast, now that the kid had unwittingly maneuvered himself into an area where he couldn't jump around like an agile little rabbit anymore. Endeavor made to grab for the kid and almost caught him at the shoulder, but the kid ducked under his arm and got away again. Annoyed, Enji flared his flames in a way that would be harmless but impressive.

"AH!" the kid screamed in shock and made a diving jump away from the fire landing flat on his belly. Endeavor grabbed his arm before he could think about getting away again.

"Let go of me!" screamed the boy wiping at him with razor sharp claws.

Endeavor jumped back on instinct, before the claws could rip into his skin, but he didn't let the boy go, instead dragging him forward, so that he fell over right into Endeavor's arms. He doused his flames immediately to not hurt him needlessly. The kid wasn't much older than Shoto after all.

"Let me go!" The kid screamed the same demand again, but by now, Endeavor had a firm grasp on him, and his struggles didn't do much apart from one of his claws weakly scraping over Endeavor's costume making a small cut into the fabric at his forearm.

"Calm down," Endeavor commanded annoyed, "or I'll have to properly subdue you."

"How you did your wife, huh?" Came the sudden response. Enji froze immediately. "Yeah I know! Let me go!" The kid tried to rip free of Endeavor's still steady hold. "How do they even still allow you to be a hero, huh! I didn't do anything!"

"You tried to steal a car!"

"It's my brother's car!" was the immediate stubborn response.

"Then you can wait with me, until the police arrive, explain this and go home." Endeavor suggested, not believing for a second that the boy spoke the truth.

"No! Let me… You can't just…! You did much worse than me!" At least at this point, the boy seemed to have given up on his futile struggles.

Endeavor grunted in what felt like admission even if he wouldn't say so out loud. Indeed, he felt like a petty car theft was peanuts in comparison to his own deeds. Still, he didn't let the boy go. In a few minutes, the police would arrive. His sidekicks would have already alerted them.

"Please!" the boy now begged. "I can't… My Dad will kill me if he finds out." Those words were muttered so low under the kid's breath, that Endeavor didn't think the words were meant for him. Now that the fight had drained out of the boy's veins, it seemed like the aggression had only thinly concealed deep-rooted despair.

"Don't be stupid," Endeavor admonished pulling the boy with him, as he left the alley to get back on one of the bigger streets. "Nobody is going to kill you." He looked down the street waiting for the telltale red lights of a police car.

"What's your name, kid?" he asked, feeling awkward. Normally, he didn't talk much with the villains or criminals, he captured, unless he needed more information to solve a case. Interviewing suspects was – generally speaking – the job of the police. Now, however, he felt awkward and lost.

After the energy had drained from the kid, he had slumped in on himself and now he looked almost miserable as he was still held by Endeavor. The hero didn't quite dare to let go of him yet, fearing it might just be a front, and he'd have to chase him again, if he just gave the kid a chance to escape, but if Endeavor was honest, the boy didn't look as if he still had the energy to run. Instead he looked as if he was about to cry.

"What's your name?" he repeated, annoyed that the kid didn't answer but instead only squirmed a bit with his arms, that Endeavor held tightly restrained, as if he was hurting him. He loosened his hold just a little bit.

"Udon," the kid said.

"Like the noodles?" Endeavor couldn't help but ask. What a ridiculous name! He almost felt sorry for the mocking question as the kid ducked his head a bit lower. "Sorry," he added quickly and only half-heartedly, not really thinking he had said anything too bad. "So, Udon… what? What's your surname?"

Udon didn't answer, instead he just looked at him with fear in his eyes.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you," Endeavor promised. He even doused his flames until they were almost gone apart from a soft flicker that lit up the street. "We're just going to wait for the police and then you're rid of me."

And Endeavor was also rid of Udon. Part of him couldn't wait for that moment. The kid's words still rang in his ears. What had he implied as he said Endeavor had 'subdued' his wife? 'Subdued'…the word sounded simultaneously harmless and damning. But Enji hadn't, …right?

There was a tiny little voice in his head, that wouldn't shut up. Whatever Enji had or hadn't done… 'subdued' was certainly a fitting word to describe Rei's behavior during the years before her mental breakdown.

"I didn't…," Endeavor had started trying to explain himself to the kid, when he suddenly realized that this had really nothing to do with Udon here. For now, he wasn't Enji Todoroki, but Endeavor, and when he donned his costume, Enji's problems were unimportant. For now, he was just a privately acting public servant so to speak. This whole business with Udon and the attempted car theft had nothing to do with his wife. So, he cut his explanation off and shut his mouth again.

Udon looked at him in confusion. Then, as he apparently decided Endeavor wouldn't say anything else, he started with his begging again.

Endeavor listened to the kid for a moment, then he glanced down the street waiting for the police with the kid's words going in one ear and leaving the other. This was really annoying. And the whole business had taken much longer than he would have liked. He should go back on patrol and not waste his time with this whiny little teenager. Was he really as old as Shoto? He threw another cursory glance at the kid. Surely, Shoto wasn't that whiny! Pathe-!

 _Stop it!_

 _Make an effort! You wanted to be a better person!_

He glanced back down at the kid, trying to listen to his fears.

"Your father won't kill you," he said decidedly. Because that fear was ridiculous and unwarranted, right? Because what father would kill their own child?

A different question came into his mind unwarranted: _And what son would kill their own father?_

He pushed all thoughts of Touya out of his mind, focusing on the kid in front of him.

"Hey, calm down!" he commanded gruffly, but somewhat satisfied with himself that he at least didn't sound completely unkind. "It's not going to happen, I promise."

"But you don't know!" The kid screamed at him in almost panic. "What would you do, if your son…" Udon glared at him, then he humphed angrily. "Oh, yeah, I know what you would do! It's all over the news!"

'Hardly,' Endeavor thought, angry that the kid again had decided to attack him personally.

He looked at Udon again, crouching down a little. "Is your Father hurting you?" he asked to make sure.

There was a sudden pause. Udon looked at him with wide eyes, then he shook his head. No. Endeavor's eyes tightened scrutinizing. No?

"Then why do you think he's going to hurt you now?" he asked further.

The boy looked at him, then down at the ground, then up at him again. His eyes were guarded now, closed off. "It's nothing," he said decidedly, "just forget it."

Endeavor looked him over, suspiciously, but then he let the topic slide as he saw the red lights of the police car around a corner. What else was he supposed to do? If the kid was telling the truth or lying… How old was Udon? Surely too old that Endeavor could just tickle the answer out of him. So, he simply nodded, and turned away again.

That had been odd, he thought. People normally didn't beg him to let them go, or for mercy in general. He wasn't known to be merciful. It wasn't like he was cruel or anything in his work, but Endeavor had always been professional. And that was his reputation. It was his job to stop and catch villains and criminals, to protect the public. If the police or the judges decided to let them go, that was their job, not his.

As the police car arrived, he turned Udon over to one of the officers, then he turned to the other, as soon as they put Udon in the back seat of the vehicle.

"Did he resist?" the officer asked, notebook in hand.

"He ran," Endeavor said, "but didn't fight me." It was technically a lie as the kid had turned his quirk against him, but it felt right to just let that one slide. Using his quirk against a hero to resist arrest would put Udon's acts into a completely different category. As far as the law was concerned that was the difference between a petty thief and a villain. The kid hadn't hurt him, and in the moment, Endeavor didn't feel like ruining his life.

"Anything else?"

"You found the car?"

"Yes," the officer replied looking up at Endeavor, "your sidekick…uh… Brazen showed us."

There was something in the officer's eyes. Disapproval? Maybe even resentment? Of course, the police would think worse about him too, now that the truth about his private life was out. He should have expected that. Still…

He decided it was best not to ponder on it any longer.

"When you bring him home, can you take a look at his parents?" He added after he gave the details of how he caught the boy. "Make sure there's no abuse going on." He felt awkward as he said that.

The officer raised an eyebrow at him, as if he found that last comment almost amusing in its irony. Endeavor could relate.

"Why would you say that?"

"The kid said something. He was afraid his Dad might hurt him for this."

"Might just be a nervous kid, trying to worm his way out of this by applying to your soft side," the officer responded.

"Maybe," Endeavor relented, "but people normally don't think I have a soft side." He activated the flames on his costume again, brightening the night. "Just look into it."

"Alright," the other man agreed closing his notebook. At that moment his two sidekicks, a young man with red and black hair by the hero-name Brazen, and a blonde woman, fresh from Shiketsu, who went by Shrinking Girl came running toward him; and Endeavor resumed his patrol.

There were two more thieves. One trying to steal money from a couple leaving the cinema, and somebody breaking into a liquor shop. Both were easily taken care off. Then there was a drug dealer. Brazen took care of that one. Endeavor prevented an accident involving a bicycle and two cars, and Shrinking Girl was kind enough to help a lost drunk find his way home.

If anything, he realized, there was a definite increase in petty crime. Still, he had expected more villains out and about. Just as he thought that, his instincts flared up.

He was still a bit out of shape and practice, so that was maybe the best excuse for his delayed reflexes. He just barely managed to raise his arm to guard his face in time, but the liquid still splashed all over his face and neck. The flames on his beard were almost completely extinguished.

What was it? For a moment he panicked, that it might be acid or something, but the confusion only lasted for a second. 'Just water,' he realized. Still, that was inconvenient enough.

He turned around to a villain in a dark blue costume standing in a small alleyway. An actual costume, he realized with some surprise. This wasn't just some renegade, who felt left out of society and turned to crime for lack of a better option. Instead, this one seemed to have put almost as much thought into his villain persona as heroes put into their hero name and costume. An actual supervillain, or at least somebody who fancied himself one.

"And who are you?" Endeavor asked, not recognizing the attacker. His beard flickered back to life as soon as the water had steamed off his heating skin.

"The Raining Man," the villain introduced himself. White gloves and boots, blue trousers with sturdy looking suspenders, several bottles of water attached to his bright orange belt. He had a mask that looked suspiciously like swimming goggles. The costume was clearly homemade, but there was some creative thought put into it, that he didn't normally see with the everyday villain, but rather with the infamous villains of for example the League of Villains or other smaller gangs.

He didn't know this one, however, neither his face nor his costume nor the name… Raining Man. Not a very intimidating villain name, Endeavor thought.

Intimidating or not, he was definitely bold, if he dared to attack Endeavor in the middle of the street. Normally, he was used to finding the villains while they were attacking innocent passersby. He wasn't used to them coming directly at him. Endeavor looked around to make sure nobody was in the close vicinity and could get hurt. There were a few trees on the other side of the street, so he couldn't use his fire to its full potential. He hoped he wouldn't need to. The only two bystanders, an old couple, were already escorted away from the scene by Shrinking Girl. Brazen, who came on the scene a little after Endeavor, ran in the direction the villain had come from to look if he was as alone as he seemed.

"Never heard of you," Endeavor mocked, blocking another attack with ease now that he was prepared.

The Raining Man used intrinsic hand movements to control the water he carried around in his bottles and the small puddles the rain from earlier had left on the pavement.

Better not let the fight move closer to the coast, Endeavor decided. Or to waste so much time, that the rain would start again.

"Shame, because I have heard about you," the villain responded preparing another attack. Endeavor's flames flared up. "You're the reason I'm here. I will continue Stain's work and purge Hero Society of-"

While he declared his motivation into the world, the Raining Man had shot another thick stream of water into Endeavor's direction. This time, however, Endeavor immediately retaliated. He was glad the villain apparently wasn't as strong as he himself obviously thought he was, because Endeavor's Hellflame had still not regained its original power. For this fight, at least it wouldn't be necessary, he knew, as he shot a burning fist, sure that the fire would be strong enough to not just evaporate the Raining Man's attack, but also engulf the villain himself in flames and likely injure him at least a little. Not enough to do more than a few superficial burns, Endeavor suspected.

That was, however, only because he calculated that his own flames would be weakened by the water before hitting the villain. But instead of the two attacks meeting in the middle, suddenly the water seemed to lose its energy flopping uselessly to the ground, the burning fist racing unchallenged towards the villain, who in his confusion about his failing quirk just watched wide-eyed. Somebody moved behind the villain.

"Ally!" he heard Brazen's loud voice, so he didn't turn to attack the newcomer.

"Endeavor!" somebody else screamed almost simultaneously. There was a shadow moving in Endeavor's periphery view. But Endeavor didn't have time to look who was joining the scene, as he struggled to get control over his flames and weaken them enough so they wouldn't kill the villain.

He panted in relief, as the villain sacked down to the ground just after the fire evaporated right in front of his face, before it could melt his skin off. Where before there was a bolstering young villain, now he looked as if he had just seen his life pass in front of his eyes.

Endeavor whirled around to see a man in dark clothes with a white scarf around his neck and something blinking golden on his face rushing towards him.

"What are you doing here, Eraserhead?" he asked annoyed that the UA teacher had interfered in his fight.

"Sorry about the interference," the erasure hero answered as he bound the villain in his capture weapon. "I've been following him from the University. He attacked two students there."

Endeavor nodded, although he didn't think this answered his question. "And why did you interfere?" His voice was rough in his annoyance.

Eraserhead shrugged. "It's faster that way. And you don't know him. He can control the steam too, so that might have been a bit tricky."

"You think I would have trouble with him, HUH?" Endeavor's temper stirred as his flames surged in indignant embarrassment. As if he couldn't take a little steam!

Eraserhead looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Endeavor glared back. One second, two… after five seconds, Enji realized he had behaved embarrassingly childish. Eraserhead hadn't even indicated that Endeavor couldn't have dealt with the villain by himself. It had just been easier that way. He shook his head slightly. "Sorry," Endeavor apologized.

"Never mind," the other muttered.

"So, who is he?" Endeavor wondered nodding in the direction of the securely tied down villain.

"Former Banking manager called Steven Tsukishima. Villain-name: the Raining Man. He's one of many new villains who popped up after your son's diary was sent to the press." So, that was the reason Endeavor didn't know them. It also explained why the villain apparently had been out for his head specifically. Enji looked at Eraserhead waiting for more information. "They think the new information regarding your person is proof that Stain was right from the start."

"So, did they start a new villain group," Endeavor asked, "or are they all just individual lone perpetrators."

"We're not sure," Eraserhead admitted. "So far, there were no coordinated actions, but they all share their ideas on the internet. We know the League of Villains tried to recruit them. Without success."

"Without success?" Endeavor repeated surprised. "I thought all those Stain fanatics would join the League in an instant."

Eraserhead was about to answer, when they were suddenly interrupted by the captured villain who had remained quiet until then. "The League?!" he bellowed angrily. "They are just murderers who abuse his name. What happened in Kamino and Fukuoka were pure massacres! Stain wanted to reform society! They just want to destroy it!" He spoke loud and passionately as if he was preaching in a temple not sitting tied hand and foot on a dark and almost empty street. "Their actions in Kamino and Fukuoka even helped increasing support in this rotten system!"

Endeavor wasn't so sure about that, but he wouldn't stoop so low as to defend the League of Villains in the eyes of this man.

He turned to see Brazen already on the phone with the police. Shrinking Girl was still a bit away with the elderly couple and two other people who must have come out of their houses just to see the battle.

"EH! Endeavor! Fuck off!" he heard a sudden screaming from one of the houses. Brazen and Eraserhead whirled around to see the middle-aged man who drunkenly leaned out of his window, waving an angry fist in the air. "Take that piss-poor villain and leave!" Endeavor saw multiple lights getting turned on in the windows in the surrounding houses, some windows were wrenched open.

"Shut up!" screamed a woman from one of the opposite windows towards the drunken man, "some people have to work tomorrow."

"Just shut your fucking window!" the man bellowed back, grabbing behind himself and then hurling an empty beer bottle towards the woman on the other side of the rather small alley. Immediately Brazen used his quirk to jump high into the air to catch the bottle.

"Get lost, Fucker!" the man insulted the young hero as his bottle was caught mid-air. "Endeavor! Ay, asshole, get your whole fucking Agency out of here! We don't need you! You're the reason shit like that are everywhere now."

Some of the neighbors muttered their consent though none as loud as the villain bound on the ground.

"You heard him! Heroes like you are the reason there are villains like me!"

"Police will be here in a few minutes," Brazen stated a bit red in the face at the fact that he had just been insulted. "What should we do about him?" He glanced upward at the drunken guy, unsurely.

"Leave him," Endeavor answered, turning back to Eraserhead. "You said he attacked the University?"

"That situation is under control. One minor injury," the other teacher answered glancing around the angry neighborhood.

"Can I leave you with him?" Endeavor asked next. He didn't want to leave Eraserhead alone, but he felt his presence would only worsen the situation.

In fact, Eraserhead seemed to agree willingly. "Yeah, sure. It's probably better to appease them as much as possible. I can deal with him." As if to prove his words, he tucked on his capture weapon, making the villain huff in discomfort.

"Okay." It wasn't exactly an expression of gratitude as Endeavor waved his sidekicks to leave, but before he turned to leave himself, something else came to mind. "Oh, by the way, what are you doing here?" He glanced back at Aizawa who gave him an unimpressed glare. "UA teachers normally don't patrol that far away from the school, if I'm correct." At least, last he remembered increased security in UA had demanded that all UA teachers would stay close-by to the school, in case there was another major incident - unless there was a good reason to make an exception.

"New situation," Eraserhead simply responded. "Increasing danger in the city demanded a response."

That was all he said to that, but Endeavor understood him well enough. UA was making up for his slack. He didn't know if he was more embarrassed at the fact that he was apparently not enough to keep Musutafu safe anymore, or at the fact that they didn't even properly inform him. Then again, he could hardly complain, he had not been active at all for over a month now.

But that was about to change.

* * *

Next, we'll meet Natsuo again. Finally.


	25. After Nineteen Years

Sorry for the late chapter, but at least I managed to get it done before Christmas.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. If I don't manage another update until then I also wish you a Happy New Year!

* * *

 **After Nineteen Years**

It was still early when Enji finished his morning jog the next day. It was Saturday, November had come and gone, and today was Saturday, the First of December. After a quick shower and breakfast, he took the car to the hospital. It was unusual coming here two days in a row, and Endeavor hoped he wasn't being followed around by some hidden paparazzi waiting for a story. They might make the connection to Rei, if they saw him enter the same hospital too regularly. Just yesterday he had asked them not to further pursue his family, but he didn't really trust that they would listen. Still, he didn't see anybody follow him around and even so, he purposely drove an extra loop around the city.

After he entered the parking lot, he turned the engine off and waited for another few minutes. Finally, he scratched the back of his head, feeling paranoid. Yesterday, when he came back home from his patrol, the paparazzi in front of his house had suddenly vacated the premises. He had seen a single news car and one sole man with his camera asking Endeavor for a statement, but quickly hurrying away as Enji glared at him.

They hadn't come back this morning and now Enji didn't know if he could trust this new peace. He doubted his interview had actually placated their curiosity, never mind their hunger for sensational news. But if he was right, where were they?

He took one last glance down the driveway and up to the hospital, before he left the car and swung the door shut with a little too much force. He was already a bit late. Just a minute or two, Natsuo would still be there, but he could just imagine Natsuo's unimpressed glare that Enji made him wait after requesting this meeting.

After entering the hospital, he first went towards the reception. There was a long line already so early in the morning. Thankfully, Enji spotted his son's telltale white hair in one of the public anterooms. So he changed his direction and went straight towards him.

"There you are," Natsuo started before Enji could get a word out. "I've been waiting for fifteen minutes."

"Then you were twelve minutes early," Enji deadpanned with a glance to the clock. Natsuo didn't seem impressed with his dad's humor. He just glared at him arms crossed over his chest.

"So, what did you want to say?" He had a magazine in his hands with a big picture of the Japanese national soccer team in the front, that he had half closed the moment Enji entered the room. He gave the impression that Enji was preventing him from reading whatever article he had been reading, making it obvious that the boy wanted to keep this conversation as short as possible. Half of the chairs in the room were still empty, but Natsuo had – Enji suspected purposefully – sat himself between a young kid and an old lady.

The kid stared at Enji with narrowed eyes, as if he was thinking very hard if Enji resembled the hero 'Endeavor' enough to ask for an autograph.

"Not here," Enji said, turning at once to leave the room with two long strides so that Natsuo had to hurry to keep up. He could hear the boy curse under his breath, as he reached out for his jacket and quickly followed his father out of the room.

"You wanted to—," he started to complain as he followed his father down the corridor but stopped abruptly when Endeavor opened the door to one of the isolated anterooms for heroes. Natsuo's eyes narrowed a little as he entered the room and looked around.

There were only a few chairs in this room, a low table with a bunch of newspapers and magazines like any other normal anteroom. But in one corner there was a small and comfortable sofa, and between the two windows there was a coffee machine. Natsuo stood in the middle of the room on the carpet, taking everything in. Then he turned back to Enji. "They give you your own waiting-rooms? Must be really nifty to be a hero." He didn't specify whether he was talking about Endeavor specifically or heroes in general.

Enji leveled his son with an unimpressed look. Then he simply shrugged. "We need some privacy for this conversation. I'd rather not talk about this in public."

"What? Worried the press might get wind of it?" Obviously, the words left Natsuo's lips automatically, because the next second he looked as if he wanted to take them back. He huffed angrily, before he sat on one of the simple chairs.

"Talking about the press…," Enji started, "how are you doing? With…" He didn't really know how to end this sentence. Instead he focused on his son for the first time in… well, years probably. The last time they had met in person was during his fake kidnapping. But he couldn't really remember the last time he had really focused his entire attention on Natsuo. Maybe during that family dinner, when Natsuo had screamed at him, only a week before said kidnapping. But had he really focused on Natsuo then? Had he even really heard what the boy had said, or had he been absorbed in his own new idea of 'repenting and atoning for his sins'. So absorbed in fact, that he hadn't even really understood what Natsuo had yelled about to him. And if not during that family dinner, when was the last time he had even talked to Natsuo?

The kid was… really no kid anymore. He'd grown almost to Enji's height. Broad shoulders and chest. He had always been the tallest of his siblings. Physically, he was the most like Enji himself. Touya might have inherited most of his looks and quirk. Shoto was the one who had inherited the perfect combination of him and Rei, but Natsuo… He had Rei's hair and eyes and quirk, mostly, but physically… He was even slowly developing Enji's same jawline. Give him ten more years, Enji assumed, and between all his children Natsuo would look the most like him.

Enji didn't think Natsuo would like to hear that, though.

He looked tired and grumpy. Despite having apparently arrived fifteen minutes ago he looked as if he had just woken up. Not a morning person. Enji couldn't really place the looks and glares he was receiving from him. There was the expected anger and almost hatred. He was used to that. But there was something else. Natsuo seemed shifty, uncomfortable and insecure, worried, and Enji was inclined to say: almost ashamed.

"It's been alright," Natsuo answered forcefully after a while. He pressed the words out as if he didn't want to speak about any of that. "Some paparazzi tried to enter the dormitory, but they got dragged off by security. I think they might have even sued some of them for trespassing." He shrugged. Then he added: "It's annoying."

"I hope it will get less, after…"

"After your little interview? Yeah, very nice of you. Thanks a lot." He sounded sarcastic. "Well, I didn't have any trouble this morning, so maybe you did help."

That was good news, at least, though Enji feared it wasn't permanent just like he feared his own peace wouldn't last either. He was about to say so, when Natsuo suddenly continued:

"So, what did you want to talk about? What happened with mom?"

"Did you talk to somebody after the kidnapping? See somebody?" Enji asked without even acknowledging Natsuo's own question. Rei was fine, Rei could wait. There was more important stuff now. To him, it had really only been a convenient excuse to finally see Natsuo.

Natsuo seemed to now realize the same, because his look of surprise turned to an angry glare. He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. But then he huffed annoyed, realizing he was now stuck in this situation if he didn't want to make a scene. Even in this private room, they were still in a hospital, a public space, and neither of them wanted to alert the people around them to their drama.

"No," he muttered and shrugged, "why would I? I was fine, they didn't hurt me." He sounded defensive as he leaned back a little more until Natsuo's shoulders hit the wall.

"I didn't mean…," Enji sighed, "I meant a psychologist. Did you talk to somebody about what happened?" His professional hero-training was quite helpful now. They learned what tips to give or how to give first aid to any civilian that might be involved in a villain incident. This was of course a month late, but he assumed someone would have already talked with Natsuo about this. So, now Enji just relied on this expertise to not sound or feel awkward.

This however only made Natsuo seem more defensive. His arms tightened around his chest. "As I said, I'm fine. What is this about?"

Well, Enji couldn't force his son to talk about what had happened. And in some way, Natsuo was right, he hadn't been injured after all… he hadn't even really been kidnapped.

"Did you see anybody?" Natsuo asked back almost accusatory. When Enji didn't answer, Natsuo just huffed again. "See, so why should I?"

The conversation already made Enji feel tired even though it was still early morning and he had just woken up two hours ago. He sat heavily on one of the chairs that he dragged close enough to Natsuo, that they could sit opposite each other, but not too close, that Natsuo had any right to feel claustrophobic. Still the boy eyed him unhappily.

"I just want-," he started.

"Stop it," Natsuo demanded looking away to the door.

Enji actually stopped for a moment, surprised with Natsuo's tone. He had almost sounded pleading. "Why?" he said finally, because he couldn't really continue if his son was quite literally begging him not to, but he also couldn't just stop. He had waited more thaen a month to finally get this chance.

"Why?!" Natsuo barked back, his voice quickly changing from pleading to aggressive. "You want… Fuck you! Why the fuck did you have to come?" His head snapped back to glare at Enji, leaning forward in a stance that would raise all of Enji's alarms if the other was a villain. But it wasn't a villain, so he remained seated where he was.

"Come…?" he repeated.

"Yeah! I was just fine, really peachy and then you came and had to screw everything up!" Natsuo screamed in his face.

"Back then?" Enji asked, because he was confused about what his son was talking about. Should he not have come? He had thought that had been the plan. "I thought you wanted me to come."

"I was fine! Nothing would have happened if you hadn't come, but you just had to play the hero!" His voice had quieted down a little, still aware of their surroundings, but his glare didn't lose its aggressiveness.

"You didn't want me to come?" Enji asked thoroughly confused.

"No!" Natsuo retorted, "Yes…," he grabbed his hair as if he was himself confused. "I don't fucking know!" He shook his head. "But…" Suddenly he jumped up from his chair, past Enji, toward the door, but Enji grabbed his wrist to hold him there.

"But what?" he demanded.

"Nothing would have happened, okay?" Natsuo hissed. "Nothing would have fucking happened. I knew you wouldn't care, so if you hadn't come… So what? I would have been fine! But then you had to come and…"

"They might have hurt you, still," Enji said. It was the League of Villains, after all. Who knew what they would have done?

"Touya would never hurt me!" Natsuo hissed those words with conviction, but there was insecurity cracking his voice. Broken trust.

Enji realized now, what this was about. "It's not your fault," he told Natsuo. His voice was quiet, but the words clearly pronounced, willing his son to listen. "It's not your fault what happened."

"Yeah, I know," Natsuo responded almost sarcastically trying to rip his wrist free, but Enji held tight.

He didn't know what to do, how to make sure his son listened, so he just repeated his words. "It's not your fault I was injured."

"Is it not?" Natsuo finally turned on him hissing angrily. "Whose fault is it then? I… I faked my own kidnapping! Of course the people who talked me into it couldn't be stand-up citizens, but I was just too stupid to…"

"You didn't know," Enji reminded him, "he's your brother, and she was your girlfriend, right?"

"I should have known," Natsuo said angry with himself, "now that I know… Gods, their faces are on every newspaper, but I never looked into the stupid hero and villain section in the papers." He pulled on his hair, but then he finally sat back down on a different chair hunching in on himself. Enji finally let him go. "You should have told the fucking police. Why didn't you?"

"It would have ruined your life," Enji said, then he looked out of the window, "and I already ruined enough of it, I thought."

There was it again… that angry and annoyed huff. When Enji looked back at the white-haired boy the anger and irritation was back on his face, but he also seemed exhausted again. "Don't…" he said, "just don't…" Enji raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't give me that new and redeemed attitude," he said sarcastically, "I'm 19. 19 fucking years and you didn't give two shits about me. And now all of a sudden… and I should just accept that?"

He was right, Enji knew. Natsuo would have needed him, when he was a child. Now, it was almost…

"It's too late," Natsuo huffed. "I've already cut ties, I've moved out, I… You can't simply walk back into my life, even if…"

"Ah…," Enji hummed finally, because he knew what Natsuo wanted to say. He was 19 years old, and for 19 years, Enji treated him like shit, then suddenly his father came and did one right thing toward him and that almost got him killed. Of course, he was disoriented. At this point, Enji could have pointed out the flaws in his logic. Could have pointed out, how Enji still paid for Natsuo's education and accommodations, could have pointed out that Touya being alive would change everything, could have pointed out, that even with what Natsuo had said, Enji was still his father and shouldn't that be enough reason for Enji to try and be better… But he didn't need to say that, Natsuo knew all that.

"What 'Ah'?" Natsuo hissed irritated. He was a bit aggressive again, but not like a villain, Enji realized. Just a confused teenager.

Enji stood up from his chair. "Natsuo, I…," he hesitated, not knowing how to continue. He really wasn't one for many words. Making grand declarations about how he loved him or would always help him if he were kidnapped, even if it was just fake, or how he'd never stop trying to atone, was not Enji's cup of tea. He was a man of actions, not of words. And it wouldn't sound honest to him. Even less so to Natsuo. He could just say the sappiest thing he could come up with as if he were trying to change Natsuo's mind by applying to the 13-year-old inside of him, who had maybe always wanted to hear those words. But that wouldn't be fair. So, in the end, he changed his mind, closed his mouth, stared to the door and then opened it again to change the topic:

"Your mother asked me for a divorce," he said and raised his hand immediately to stop the questions he knew were already rising in Natsuo's throat, "I agreed. So, it will probably take a while, to get all the paperwork done, but… anyway." He looked away feeling a bit awkward.

Natsuo still stared at him. "You're fine with that?" he asked disbelievingly.

No, Enji wanted to say, he wasn't really fine with that. He had a night to sleep over this new development, and although at first, he had accepted it just fine and even felt a bit of relief afterward, now the very idea saddened him. Couldn't they have made it work? But of course, the very idea was ludicrous. Rei had spent the last ten or so years in the hospital terrified of him. There was nothing to 'make work'. He shrugged with one shoulder.

"I told her everything… including your involvement," he added, "so she probably has a lot of questions. Visiting hours start at nine," – which Natsuo of course knew better than even Enji himself –, "so maybe you could answer some of her questions. Take care."

He was about to leave as he stopped again, turning to him. "You know, about the journalists…," he hesitated again, "and the police, I guess, if you wanted to talk to them…" He gritted his teeth as his words died on his tongue. Then he grabbed for the door handle and almost fled the room, without looking at Natsuo again, although he could feel his wide-eyed stare at his back.

He was a bit disappointed in himself, as he sat back in his car breathing heavily as if he had just fought a powerful adversary. He had wanted to ask about Fuyumi, too, but in the end, he hadn't even mentioned her.

* * *

I hope you liked it. There will be a 'I'm Watching!' Chapter Natsuo II after this.


	26. A New Enemy Appears

So, a late WELCOME to 2020. I hope you had a good start into the new year!

Before we dive into the next chapter, I just wanted to inform you - for those who haven't seen it yet - that I updated 'I'm Watching!' last week.

Also on a different note, my betareader is back and worked tirelessly to catch up to the current chapters.

* * *

 **A New Enemy Appears**

He was back on the streets long before noon. Brazen and Silent Tracker were at his side as he patrolled the streets of Musutafu again. Although he would rather avoid people, villains did not leave out the more populated areas just to spare him, so he was right back on the busy streets of the big Japanese city. Last night the streets had been empty, but now they were bustling with people going along their day.

They were hissing at him, he could clearly hear it over the buzz of the city, whispering insults into the palms of their hands, snapping pictures with their smartphones. He didn't really care. He had talked to Natsuo and felt oddly accomplished. Internally, he had been dreading that conversation, but it had gone better than expected. He pushed all thought of Natsuo to the back of his mind to concentrate on his hero work, and all it left as this fuzzy feeling of accomplishment. It felt weird. When he brought down a villain, he always felt at least a bit of triumph, even now after thirty years in the business. This now was different… but good.

It helped ignoring the venomous glares and comments toward his back.

Being back on the street now, back on patrol for the second day on patrol with the exhaustion of last night still lingering a bit in his muscles, he felt almost at peace again. He shouldn't have stayed away from his job for so long, he thought. Despite the glares and insults, this was what he was good at, what he was made for. Patrolling the streets felt right.

Silent Tracker at his heels seemed to see it the same way. "It's good to have you back, boss," she said smiling. Her short brown locks that only reached to her ears and over her forehead were mostly covered by the hood that was a part of her hero costume. Her costume was a long grey coat that she wore open, revealing the blue and black protective gear she wore underneath.

He was about to reply back to Silent Tracker, but then he could hear a sudden crack from around the corner. It wasn't loud enough for the civilians around him to hear, but he knew immediately that something was up. In a burst of flames from his feet he sprinted around the corner. There was an electronics shop, he realized out of the corner of his eyes, most of his attention focused on the two girls who had their faces hidden under dark scarves.

He just needed one glance to assess the situation. The dangling security camera at the entrance was smashed in. That had probably been where the crack had come from. The two girls were around Fuyumi's age as they were just about to kick in the door of the shop. The shop was open, there was light inside and through the big store window he could see at least four customers and a girl at the cashier. Still, one of the girls, instead of simply entering the room tried to kick the door made of security glass open and had apparently either misjudged the weight of the door or hit it badly, because the door only trembled in its hinges but didn't swing open.

The girl cursed and kicked again, just as Endeavor came to a skittering halt, turning off the flames on his soles immediately so he wouldn't damage the street. There were two pedestrians on the other side of the street, pointing at the girls and Endeavor, but not moving from their position to get to safety. He was used to that. Spectators never left the scene, hoping they could get a good glance at a battle. And then if a battle escalated after all, sudden panic erupted in the mob of onlookers. It was always the same and one of the biggest problems he came across in his hero works. His sidekicks would have to deal with that though, as soon as they arrived. He had to deal with the villains and the people inside the store.

The taller girl who wasn't kicking in the door, had a weapon, he took her out first, grabbing the gun and melting the barrel of the gun, before she even knew what was happening. As she pulled the trigger, there was a small explosion in the barrel as the bullet couldn't get through. She hissed in pain, as she let go of the weapon. She'd be in a lot more pain soon. In one fluid attack, he grabbed her at the collar, tripped her and then smashed the girl with the back against the pavement that she lost her breath and laid there wheezing and stunned.

The other girl at the door had turned around and raised her hands. There were already rocks flying in the air. She had some sort of levitation quirk.

"I've got her!" he could hear Brazen call out and see the man with his black and red spiky hair rush towards them from behind the girl. But before the sidekick arrived, Endeavor had swiped the feet away from under her, bringing her down to the ground. She lost control over her quirk immediately, the rocks clattering harmlessly to the ground. He flickered his flames threateningly.

"Hmpf," Brazen came to a stumbling halt. "I almost had her," he muttered, putting his hands in his pants pockets. "I'll just call the police," he finally said pulling his phone out. Endeavor nodded, checking on the girls if they were hurt after he had smashed them to the ground. The first girl he had taken out had hit her head, there was a bit of blood on her hair as she turned a bit to curse rudely at him.

He was distracted by a silent clicking sound and as he turned his head, he saw one of the customers from the store standing in the door with a small camera. Several people had their phones out to shoot pictures and more people had come from the surrounding streets to watch what had been only a very short fight.

"Those poor girls," he could hear a woman mutter under her breath.

"Yeah, couldn't he have been more careful?" somebody agreed. "Did you see how he smashed the first on the ground, she could have easily broken her skull like that!" There was outrage in the voice. Endeavor realized it came from one of the customers coming out from the store.

There was some muttering among the onlookers now, that he mostly tuned out. At least the two villains hadn't said anything yet. They still laid dazed on the floor grunting in discomfort and cursing silently. But there was no hysteria there and he was somewhat thankful for that.

"Police are on the way," Brazen informed him. It was then that he heard screeching tires and was almost grateful to use that as a distraction.

"You can handle the rest," he told Brazen, as he jumped up and away from the girls. He gesticulated to Silent Tracker to follow him, before he used his quirk in another powerful burst of fire to take to the sky, so he didn't have to bully his way through the mob of onlookers.

Half a second later he landed heavily on the front of a car. The metal caved in under his weight and the flames from his quirk immediately ruined the engine and tires below him. People screamed around him in shock, as he jumped down and brought the car to a screeching halt.

"Damn," Endeavor muttered as the car veered a bit off course. Not much, he had everything under control, he told himself, but still too much. It scratched the silver van in the next line and ripped its side mirror off. Leaving the car dented but the people inside still save from harm. Still, Endeavor gritted his teeth. That was poorly done.

The man on the steering wheel of the car he had stopped stared at him for a moment. His hands were grabbed tightly around the leather of the wheel, knuckles white. Then he suddenly screamed in anger at Endeavor, burst out of his car and came with swinging fists at him.

"You Fucker! What did you do to my car?" he screeched, fist rushing towards Endeavors chin, but Endeavor caught it before he could hit him. He took a step back, to get the room to grab for the man's wrist, as he was suddenly hit from the side. The man in the silver van had opened his door, right as Endeavor was next to it. Endeavor stumbled forward, dragging the speeder with him.

"You asshole ruined my van!" The van driver cursed as he stepped out of his car and scrutinized the damage to the side of his vehicle, not caring that Endeavor was still struggling to make the other driver calm down. "I just paid the last payment for it. I'm going to sue! Oi! Endeavor, asshole, what the fuck are you doing!"

Silent Tracker landed next to the van in precisely that moment, grabbing him at his sleeve and pulling him away. She tried to calm him down, but the man fought against her, still cursing and screaming at Endeavor.

Endeavor, however, had no time to deal with him. The other man was still screaming and cursing and spitting at him, struggling to get his hands free even after Endeavor had him secure in his hold.

"Calm down!" Endeavor demanded. "Calm down or I will knock you out."

"Calm down?" the man screeched over his threat. "You fucking ruined my car, screw you!" His speech was slurring a bit, he was drunk. Maybe he hadn't even been aware of his speed and the panicked faces of the pedestrians around him. Endeavor shifted his grip, until he held the furious men in a tight choke to subdue him.

"Okay, now sit tight," he hissed, "or this will get a…" He was interrupted by angry honking.

"Clear the street!" a woman demanded out of her car.

"Out of the way! Gods, get your asses off the street!" a man demanded screaming, with a fist waving out of his driver's seat window. "Get lost! We don't need you here, Endeavor!" He screamed.

It went like that for the whole day. He had started the day feeling oddly good about himself after his talk with Natsuo. Three attempted robberies, two DUI's, an attempted purse stealing, and one attempted kidnapping of a six-year-old later, he was thoroughly frustrated and exhausted.

The comments were one thing, and he could live with the lack of gratitude. People took his work for granted since forever. But getting hit with an empty soda can from one of the onlookers, after he gave the purse back to the old lady was a new low. The worst was the mother of the kid, who had just thrown one suspicious glare at him, as if he had been the one trying to kidnap her child, before grabbing the kid around the wrist and dragging it away in a hurry.

He could see that it frustrated his sidekicks, too. Brazen had looked positively crestfallen, as a kid had asked for an autograph, only for their parents to drag them away, saying: "You shouldn't take those guys for an idol. There are better heroes out there." Silent Tracker had taken to deal with the whole public work during the day. She hated dealing with the people, he knew. Silent Tracker was a private person. She was a very thorough and pragmatic woman, and he valued her for her good judgement and useful quirk that allowed her to turn into the animals that had let her ruffle their fur or feathers during the day. Very useful for infiltration and espionage. But she liked dealing with people almost less so then he himself. Yet, today she almost ordered Endeavor away as soon as he could dare to leave the scene, so she could deal with the public.

They were back in the Agency, as Silent Tracker finally patted him on the shoulder. She had to stretch up a bit to reach his shoulder, as he was almost a whole foot taller than her. "Good work today," she complimented, shrugging off the hood revealing her mess of dark curls. There was sweat sticking the strands of hair together. He pushed her hand aside, not feeling accomplished the way he had this morning. Not enough, at least, to acknowledge her compliment. Her nose scrunched up a little as she narrowed her eyes. "No reason to be that moody," she told him, "you did a good job there, certainly got more done than the rest of us managed while you were gone. That way we get the streets back under control in no time."

He doubted her words. "Unless the citizen revolt and we make enemies of the whole city", he muttered stepping up to the elevator.

"It will pass," Silent Tracker said as she stepped into the small tin can with him, pressing the button to her room. All the sidekicks had rooms in the agency where they could rest. Some even slept here, especially when they were scheduled for the night shifts.

Her optimism was grating, and he didn't share it.

"Believe me, I have experience with that," she said, "when they dragged me through the mud, it lasted four months until they found some bigger scandal."

Endeavor huffed in acknowledgement. He had doused the flames on his costume completely, even the fiery mask flickered out, leaving only his beard. "Tell me when you find a bigger scandal," he muttered pulling off his gloves, shoving them into his belt, and crossing his arms.

She rolled her eyes, huffing a silent chuckle. "Well, it might take a while, but it _will_ pass." She frowned as a new light lit up on the control-pad of the elevator, then the lift came to a sudden halt.

A colleague from PR stood in front of the doors, as they slid open. He halted in surprise, then he bowed slightly and stepped in. "You're exactly the one I wanted to meet, Silent." He glanced at Endeavor, then put all his attention on the heroine. "You dealt with the public today, huh?"

"Are they already writing about that?" she asked with an annoyed shrug, pressing the button of her corridor again, impatiently.

The PR-man pulled an iPhone out of his jacket showing her something that looked like a Twitter-feed from where Endeavor stood. She only glanced at it shortly then pushed it over to Endeavor so he could read it:

Saw Endeavor out on the street today. He's so #NotMyHero ! Made EHS_SilentTracker deal with all our questions! That Coward can't even face our questions! #WeNeedMoreAnswers

Below people had shared the message adding the hashtag ' #TakeHisLicense' and '#No1Villain'

He gave the phone back to the PR-guy, who turned back to Silent Tracker. "If you want to take over the public work for now, we need to brief you. Do you have 30 minutes?"

At that moment, the elevator stopped again. "Ah, fine, come to my room," Silent Tracker muttered obviously annoyed as she exited the elevator, "see ya, Boss. Keep your head up!"

The PR-guy quickly bowed toward Endeavor again, before he hurried after her.

At last, Endeavor was alone as he rode the elevator up to his own office. He wouldn't remain alone for long.

As his feet stomped over the dark blue carpet laid out in the corridor of this floor, muffling the sound of his steps, he could already see Inari waiting for him at his office. Without a word, Endeavor crossed the corridor into the office of his secretary. He opened the door with the fingerprint scan at the side, waving Inari to follow him.

Only when both he and Inari sat at Endeavor's desk opposite each other, and Endeavor pressed the standby button on his computer to start it, did Inari start to speak.

"First things first," he started. He held a thick folder in his hand, putting it up on the desk between them. "Your first patrols since last month already made the news. You're all around social media and Channel Three even brought an exclusive about your comeback." His face twisted into a grimace for a moment. "They derailed a little into your past mistakes half-way through, but I guess that is unavoidable now. I can't exactly say that your comeback was well received."

"I already saw," Endeavor said quietly, watching Inari's hand fiddle with the edges of the folder.

"But it's not just negative. While in the rest of Japan the views are mostly negative, it seems at least the people of Musutafu are a bit more divided on the issue." Endeavor frowned in doubt. He hadn't gotten that feeling as he had patrolled the streets of Musutafu. "Some seem to feel safer, now that you are back on the streets protecting them. And some are loudly defending you, saying your work as a hero had nothing to do with your family."

Inari flipped the folder open and glanced down at some pages. Then he put one of the documents in front of Endeavor. At the top Endeavor could immediately see the crest of the Musutafu City Police.

"This came through from the Police almost an hour ago," Inari said.

Endeavor's eyes quickly scanned over the text. "Ah, shit…," he cursed. "This means trouble. Just an hour ago? But there's nothing we can do."

It was a message by the Police, that the Villain 'Raining Man' that he had apprehended yesterday had been rescued by other villains during his transfer to Tartarus, where he was supposed to be held until his trial.

"We don't know who did it?" Endeavor asked.

"No. I already called the detective responsible for the case. It was a group of three villains. They couldn't get a good look at them. It seems like one of them had a quirk that was able to jam all electronics and communications with HQ. They were in and out, stopped the van, broke it open, took the Raining Man and fled within two minutes. The Police shot 14 shots, but none of them hit. They assume there was a teleportation or intangibility quirk involved, but no confirmation."

Endeavor rubbed his head, trying to get rid of the headache that was slowly forming there. He stood up and strolled to a water dispenser, drinking the whole cup at once before giving himself a refill.

"Could the League be involved," he asked frowning, but this didn't seem like them.

"They are not sure, but it seems unlikely. None of the usual chaos that we are used to from them so far, and we don't know that anybody in the League could jam electronics, do we?" Endeavor shook his head in agreement. From what he had gathered so far, it didn't look like the League, he agreed.

"So, a new group," he surmised.

"They left a message for you," Inari said, pulling out another page. It was a picture right from the scene showing a piece of paper with ink and color smeared across it. There was a picture of him, cut out from one of the articles about his ascend to the number one position two months back, when the new Hero Billboard Charts were revealed. It was glued in the middle, with his face crossed out in thick black ink. The words The Hero License is no license to abuse! Death to Villains! Death to Abusers! scratched around the picture in a messy script that was almost unreadable.

"Charming," Endeavor muttered, handing the picture back to Inari.

"I think we should take this seriously," Inari said, putting the picture and the message from the police back into his folder. "It's not the first time, we get these kinds of messages meant for you directly, but with this new villain group spreading them, this could turn dangerous very quickly. We should increase security."

Endeavor nodded in agreement.

"And we should maybe look over your patrol sche—"

"No," Endeavor interrupted, "tighten security in the tower, we won't change our patrol routine."

"But…," Inari tried to retort, "if you get attacked by a group of three or more villains, we should at least make sure we have enough sidekicks supporting you at all time."

"We can't," Endeavor stated simply, "we're already stretched thin. Half my sidekicks have quit. That would only leave two options: Either I cut short on my patrols or I give every sidekick double and triple shifts. The patrols are already more exhausting than normally with the increased crime-rates since All Might retired, never mind since the revelation regarding my person. I rather have two sidekicks at my side who can handle themselves, than four who can barely stand on their feet from exhaustion."

"Then…"

Endeavor held a hand up to stop Inari. "And I can't cut down on my patrols either. I haven't done anything in four weeks, and yesterday you said it yourself: It's my duty, to keep them safe, and I can't do that if I hide in my own office."

If he were to be attacked by this new group, he'd just have to handle it. He wasn't at the top of his game currently. He still had trouble with his quirk, but if they were all as strong as the Raining Man, that wouldn't be a problem. If they were stronger… Well, he'd just have to handle it and maybe hope he'd get backup from another Hero Agency. His wasn't the only Agency in Musutafu after all.

"Something else," Inari finally relented pulling up the last stack of paper from his folder. This was by far the thickest. "I've gone through all the names we couldn't yet eliminate as suspects." He looked up at Endeavor meaningfully. Yes, the traitor…

"Did you find anything?"

"Nothing…," Inari pushed the stack of paper in his direction. Then he rubbed the top of his head, ruffling his greying hair, which made him look odd and different compared to the straight and correct man Endeavor was used to seeing. "Since we don't really know what we are looking for, it's like…," he shrugged. "I scratched two more people from the list. The reason Klein behaved so suspiciously last month was because he had a bet going, he couldn't tell anybody. That secret is out now, so there's no reason to suspect him anymore. And he was involved early on in preparing for the rescue mission in Kamino, so if he knew anything, the League might have already been tipped off back then, but they weren't. And I also don't think Shuu down from Support would work with the League. I discovered that one of his good friends was killed by Toga before she joined the League. He hates her with a passion. No reason why he would help them."

Endeavor flicked through the pages he was handed, while Inari spoke. There were detailed reports on all the suspects still on the list, Eight people – including the two Inari had mentioned.

"We have used our house surveillance to keep tabs on all communications of all employees inside the building for the last three days, but you know we can't keep this up without a judicial order for longer than four days. If we find something or not, tomorrow at 7:00 am we have to stop the surveillance, whether we find something or not, or we go to the police."

"I'd rather not," Endeavor muttered flicking to the last paper. If the police knew, the Hero Association knew and soon everyone would know if they started an open investigation. It would not just shine bad light on the Agency, which he really couldn't need at the moment – it could also tip of the League of Villains. He didn't know what other Agencies or organizations they had infiltrated already. "Keep surveillance going, if we don't have anything by tomorrow, we'll bring them in for questioning."

He went through the list again, two guys down from Administration, one from Support, one from Facility Management, one from Marketing, and his sidekick Brazen. Nobody from the interrogation department. "Interrogation can tickle them for a while and if they don't find anything, we just have to assume the traitor didn't come from our side."

"Even if they are innocent, they might quit, if they find out your trust in them is so low," Inari warned.

Endeavor just shrugged at the warning. "We have to risk it. It would be a shame; especially now, we need everybody, but finding out who the traitor is, is more important for now." He gritted his teeth at the mere idea of a traitor in his ranks. But if there was no traitor here, he'd have to next investigate Hawks and his agency. That would be even harder. Hawks worked in Fukuoka on Kyushu. He couldn't really go there himself to spy on Hawks, so he would have to send somebody he could trust. And if the spy was actually there and Endeavor's trusted investigator was caught, they'd be in grave danger, all alone in Fukuoka. Plus, he couldn't really bring anybody in to help him. Not just his public approval ratings had gone down, public trust in him was in the negative. Civilians, Police, the Hero Association, even fellow Heroes, if he told them he suspected Hawks or somebody in his Agency to be a traitor, he feared they would rather trust Hawks than listen to his accusations. They might even just assume that he did it on purpose to find a new scandal bigger than the abuse of his family.

As Inari left the office, Endeavor turned back to his computer. His eyes flickered down to the taskbar. Down in the bottom right corner, the desktop showed the time and date. It was 07:23 pm on the first of December. Fuyumi would turn 23 on the sixth. That was just five more days, and he still hadn't made a decision about what to do about it.

* * *

So we're back in the plot. Since we all know who the 'traitor' is, I guess asking you guys what you think would be useless. So instead, I decided to give you some new information.

Now that we're back at the Agency, I decided to give you a bit more information on the people working here, as they are all OC and I decided against throwing out my current plans in order to get the new characters from the Manga into the story.

I mentioned this before, but now, I'm finally going to do it and give you a little information on the people working for Endeavor! Part of the reason I'm doing this, is honestly because I realized there's almost never a moment where I feel comfortable just delving into a side characters quirk in the story itself. Horikoshi does it with these little introduction cards in the Manga, and in the Anime, it's the narrator explaining the quirks. Since I don't really have either at my disposal, I just use Author's Notes.

So let's start with the two members of the Endeavor Hero Agency we met first in this show!

Fujiwara Inari: By now, you should be well acquainted with him. He is Endeavor's secretary and has been that for many many years. It may be a bit unorthodox for Endeavor to call a colleague by his first name, especially in a society such as Japan, but they have been working together for many years and although they are not friends, Inari simply prefers his given name.  
He's 53 years old, quite a bit older than Enji himself, married and has 3 daughters. As a kid, he wanted to be a hero himself, but always thought that his quirk was unsuited for that, so instead he chose to work for the best hero he could find, and help people that way. (All Might sadly didn't have such a big Agency, or he might have started to work there.) He has a business degree and some would say he runs the Agency more than Endeavor himself. What is his quirk, you may ask: It's called Reader, and it allows him to read documents very quickly, by just glancing at them. He can of course also remember the content of said documents. Recently, with age, his memory got a bit worse, but he still can remember more things in a single day, than most people would remember in a month.

Nakamura Toshiro: Nakamura is the 55-year-old Lawyer in Endeavor's Agency. He mostly specializes in everything related to Heroes, but his strong suit is really property damage charges. He's a beast in that field and able to get Endeavor out of just about any troubles related to his sometimes overly destructive quirk. Especially in his earlier years Endeavor caused quite a bit of damage during his fights - some of it unnecessary - but exactly for that case, he has Nakamura. Although he specializes in Hero Law, Endeavor asks him in regards to just about anything law-related and Nakamura never really admits when something isn't his strong suit. Still, for that case, he has his team, as he is not the only Lawyer in the Agency, but the head of the Legal Team. Nakamura didn't start his career at the Endeavor Hero Agency. He actually started in victim protection services, trying to get victims who lose property during a villain vs. hero fight settled with some sort of recompensation. But he started to work for Endeavor just over 12 years ago.  
His quirk is called Compulsion. In a way it's similar to Shin Nemoto's quirk from the Shie Hassaikai, in that it forces an answer or reaction to a question. It's a bit different though. Nakamura can not force people to tell the truth or do what he commands, but when he asks a question he compels the other person to answer when he gives a command, he compels the other to react. If that answer is the truth or if they follow the command ultimately depends on the spontaneity of the other person. He only compels them to give some form of answer or reaction.

So, so much about these two. Next chapter, unless you're really not interested in this sort of information, I will give you some information on some of the Sidekicks.


	27. Fuel Shortage

**Hi there,**

Yesterday I was visiting my parents, so this chapter is a bit late. It's also a bit shorter than normal, but I hope you like it anyway

* * *

 **Fuel shortage**

 _Higher! Higher! Raise the heat higher! Even…_

In a puff of wasted energy, the flames just about imploded and vanished. He doubled over with his hands on his knees panting into the empty training room that was still heated from the fire of his flames. But not as hot as it was supposed to be. His limbs trembled as he finally raised himself again until he stood upright, exhaustion dragging his shoulders low.

He was at home in his private training room with a high ceiling. The walls and mat on the ground were made of enhanced material, able to withstand fire. It wasn't flammable, but from a certain heat, it would slowly start melting. Normally, if he wanted to train the absolute heat of his fire, he would do so outside in an area preferably void of people, life and anything flammable, but at the moment, he could neither afford to leave Musutafu for a lengthy amount of time to train nor could he just so much as train in his gardens, without somebody seeing it, snapping a picture, and laughing about the current condition of the No. 1 Hero. He didn't even dare to train like this in the training rooms at the agency anymore, lest somebody saw and thought him weak because of it. In the hours between patrols, he mostly trained his physical strength and quirk control in the Agency.

After five weeks of just sitting around, he had to get fit again. That was a bit embarrassing, but if anybody saw it, they would understand. He had almost died and just came from a lengthy recovery after all. But how could he explain to anybody, that his quirk would almost give out on him at times?

It turned out it wasn't really an issue of control. In fact, it almost felt, like controlling his quirk had gotten a lot easier, though that was surely only his imagination. The problem was rather some sort of… fuel shortage, he was inclined to call it. If he kept his flames low, it was almost no trouble at all, and controlling them was a breeze. But if he tried to raise them higher, it was as if they just sputtered out. He had to force himself just to reach high temperatures that had come almost natural to him just a few months ago.

He didn't even manage a flicker of blue fire yet, and how embarrassing was that? Half of his more powerful super-moves were performed at a temperature that would make his flames blue, some were even hotter, using white flames. Yet now, he couldn't even reach the limits of his ordinary red flames.

Angrily gritting his teeth, he activated his flames again. More! More! Red tendrils of fire, raging flames exploded from his chest. His whole body stood in flames. He screamed in determination as if his fire could derive fuel from his voice alone.

 _Higher! Even higher! Raise the Temperature…_

It died out, his quirk giving up on him even earlier than before. Frustrated, he glared at his hands. They were trembling. Really trembling. Not just a slight tremor. As he grabbed for the water bottle standing next to the door, he couldn't even hold it. And he knew it wasn't from overheating…

This was from exhaustion alone. This was his third hour of continuous training. His body hadn't even come close to reaching the temperature at which it would normally cease to function. His fire had just sputtered out before it could ever come to that.

The trembling, the exhaustion, the blurry sight didn't come from overheating.

"Again!" he told himself.

Dying flames weren't a powerful and mighty thing to behold. They were weak and pathetic and…

 _Again!_

 _Again!_

 _Again!_

Why wouldn't it work?

Finally, he drank the last bit from his water bottle, throwing the empty thing angrily into the corner. If it didn't work, he had to work without his strongest super-moves for now. There was nothing else he could do. So much about being the 'strongest hero'… One thing seemed for sure — incinerating a Nomu was not possible for now.

He took a quick shower and waited for Matsuura. It was Monday, and in an hour it will be 10 am, and he had an appointment with the Hero Association. His day couldn't start any better.

Four hours later, it was already past noon and Endeavor still set with the representatives the Hero Association had sent. He had told his story half a dozen times now, he felt. He hadn't added many more details to the story than what the public already knew. That was obviously the reason they weren't happy with him.

Watanabe Eichi was an old and retired hero, who had started to work for the Association after a crippling wound to his collarbone had ruined every possibility of him ever returning to his old work. Endeavor remembered him as a highly respected hero when he had still been young himself. He had even made it to Top 5 when Enji had just started UA. Now, the hero 'Bumblebee' had lost 20 pounds and all his hair. He also had grown thick eyebrows and a bristly mustache, the hair on his upper lip looking like hard grey wire. Endeavor could still see the scar peeking out from under his collar.

Next to him sat a tall woman with wiry thin limbs, around Endeavor's own age. Aomoto Chizu's formerly brown hair was now mostly grey and bound up in a tight bun. There was no humor on her lips, the thin line of her mouth hadn't moved to give any other emotion apart from open disapproval since they had started Endeavor's interrogation. It seemed her lips thinned out a bit more every ten minutes.

By now, Nakamura and Aomoto did most of the talking. Two lawyers throwing legal jargon at each other. Endeavor himself had mentally long left the conversation. He let his eyes roam around the room. The walls weren't white as he realized now, but a very light pastel yellow-ish. There was a picture of a western-style castle on a mountain, opposite of Endeavor. At first, he had thought it was a painting, but now he saw it was just made to look like one. A picture printed onto an actual canvas after some digital editing. Endeavor, Nakamura, and the two people from the Hero Association sat on opposite sides of an oval table, a laptop and loads of paper between them. Next to them, there was a window giving the most unspectacular sight of the brown and grey concrete front of the ugly six-story building on the other side of the small and empty street. The traffic noise from a close main road that they couldn't see from their window was reaching all the way up to the fourth story of the Hero Association Headquarters here in Musutafu, where Endeavor was now. Every now and then, a loud honking orchestra interrupted their interrogation.

"Todoroki-san, maybe if this is important to you, as you claim, you should listen to what we have to say." That was Aomoto's high pitched voice, her lips thinning into sheer nothingness. They almost vanished on her face.

Endeavor blinked at her, then he glanced at Nakamura and Watanabe, and righted himself in his seat. "You are completely correct, Aomoto-san," He put his hands on the oval tabletop and pushed himself to his feet, bowing shortly into her direction. "I apologize, but I think it's time to end this." Nakamura stood up immediately, packing up his documents on the table.

Aomoto sputtered in surprise, and Endeavor triumphed at finally seeing some sort of emotional reaction from her. He could also see her lips again. They were almost white after she had pressed all the blood out of them for so long. "Excuse me, Todoroki-san, we are not finished."

"Yes, we are," he retorted, "we've been at it for three hours now. I've said everything I can say on the matter. If we're only disagreeing on… legal matters now, I don't think my presence is needed here."

"If you want to keep your license…," Aomoto started, but she stopped as Watanabe put a hand on her shoulder.

"You can call me with your decision," Endeavor suggested and bowed again. "As long as I still have my license, I have work to do. Good Day."

"We will inform you by the end of the week," Watanabe answered, standing up to bow himself. Aomoto followed somewhat reluctantly.

"Good thing you did that, or I might have lost my patience," Nakamura said on their way down, putting a cigarette in his mouth. Normally he didn't smoke unless he was stressed. He had picked the habit up again in the recent couple of days, Endeavor had realized. "Do you have a fire?"

Endeavor glared at him, but used his index finger to light the cigarette.

"I don't think they will suspend your license," he said after a first long drag. "If they wanted to do that, they wouldn't have dragged it out that much. This was just meant to get on your nerves, so you might have to behave in the future."

"Yeah," muttered Endeavor. He had had the same feeling. If he had feared it could cost him his license, he wouldn't have just left like this. But he wasn't willing to spend more time than strictly necessary in that ugly yellow room talking to the two representatives from the Hero Association, knowing full well that they just tried to humiliate him now, but would probably beg for his help during the next big incident. He had more important things to do.

"You mentioned something else yesterday," Nakamura said as he took another drag from his cigarette. Then he pulled out a scarf and hat from his bag, putting it on even before they left the building.

Endeavor watched him a bit amused. They would only be out in the cold breeze for a few seconds before they would reach the car.

"Not everybody has your natural body heat," Nakamura muttered, rubbing his hands in the soft wool of his scarf. "So, what is it?"

"My wife and I will divorce," he informed him.

Nakamura's steps faltered shortly before he caught up to Endeavor again. Enji held the door open for him, as they exited the building. "When?" he asked.

"As soon as possible, I guess," Enji shrugged. "I might need your help with that."

"Sure," Nakamura said, shrugging. Endeavor knew that that wasn't really his field of expertise, but Nakamura didn't mention that. He never mentioned when something was not his expertise. At best, sometimes he'd bring another lawyer in, saying that 'he consulted a colleague who was one of the experts in this matter.' Enji never knew if it was a pride-thing or a lawyer-thing, when they don't admit when they don't have a clue about something.

"I don't intend to make it a dragged-out legal matter. I want this to go as smoothly as possible," Enji said.

"Then you might try to get your financial detail as fast as possible," Nakamura muttered, "divorces are expensive, even the cheap ones."

He had gathered as much.

Matsuura was already waiting for them as they exited the house. Nakamura was sitting in the back seat when Endeavor's phone vibrated in his pocket signaling a text message. It was from Shoto.

\- I passed! - it said simply.

Enji's flame surged in pride before he entered the car. As he sat in the back seat next to Nakamura, the lawyer looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Shoto passed the provisional license exam." He grinned. He was admittedly very happy that Shoto had texted him. For most of the school year, he had to find out about Shoto's progress in school in different ways. Most of all through social media and the news, or he had annoyed Principal Nezu for information. It was almost shameful to admit how little he had known about his son's education at times.

"Congratulations," the lawyer said. "Does he already know about the divorce?"

"No," Endeavor looked at his phone, "I'm waiting for the right moment. I guess, if I wait any longer, Rei might just tell him in one of her letters." He sighed. "I'll call him later."

* * *

Next chapter, let's meet Shoto, again.

As a little token of Information for today, let's meet Matsuura:

Matsuura Matsutaka is a Driver for the Endeavor Hero Agency who is also Enji's personal driver. He actually doesn't care much about heroes, instead, he just works for Endeavor, because the former number two pays well. He's a rather private person who doesn't like talking much about himself at work, so during all this time when Enji couldn't be bothered to learn his driver's name, Matsuura hardly even realized that his boss didn't know his name. Unlike most other employees of Endeavor, he doesn't really care much about the hero business and the moral obligations that should come with the job. So when his boss turned out to be not quite as spotless as many might have assumed due to him being a hero, Matsuura might have been the only one who hardly even cared. He has a quirk but he doesn't talk much about it, so nobody really knows what it does. He mentioned once, that it has something to do with wood, but that's all anybody knows about it.


	28. Flashfire

**Flashfire**

"I already know, Natsuo told me," Fuyumi said.

Natsuo…

Enji remained silent for a while. Absentmindedly, he massaged his shoulder. During the patrol, a villain had gotten him with a hard kick. The bruise was already building. He put the pack of ice back on the hurting joint.

"He told you?" What a useless question, but he couldn't help it. He felt disappointed. "When?"

"I met him yesterday, at Mom's." Her voice sounded oddly cold, he thought. He had hoped if enough time passed, she might forget her anger about him. It had been over a month since they had last been on good terms. He missed her. Gods, he missed her more than anything.

"You visited Rei?" he asked to keep the conversation going.

"Yes. Was that all?" It was obvious she wanted to end the call as soon as possible. There was a new bite in her tone. It was not all, of course. It was Monday, the third… Three days until her birthday.

Enji sighed. He couldn't guess why she was angry at him again, he had to ask. "What did I do, now?" he asked. He knew his voice took on a sarcastic, almost aggressive tone. He was tired of this.

"You told Mom," she said without missing a beat.

Oh…

"She needed to know!" He tried to convince her, but he knew it wouldn't help.

"She actually believes you," Fuyumi sounded tired, and now he felt sorry, even though he had just told the truth. "You made her believe her own son is alive and a murderer. How screwed up is that? I can't even tell her that it's a lie. That would break her heart."

"It's not…," he started, but then he just let it slide. Sooner or later, she had to get out of her denial, but not now. "Did you talk to Natsuo about it?" he asked.

"What's there to talk about?" she snapped. "We both know it's bullshit."

"Did he tell you that?"

"He doesn't need to," Fuyumi huffed in annoyance. "He hardly talks about the kidnapping anyway. Not to me at least. I think he talked to Mom, I don't know." He could hear the sadness in her voice and his heart ached for her. She still believed Natsuo had really been kidnapped. How hurt must she be to think Natsuo wouldn't trust her enough to share his troubles with her. He almost told her right there, but he didn't. What if she didn't believe him again.

Coward… Pathetic.

"I'm sorry," he said, not sure if he was apologizing or just expressing his sympathy.

"Dad, I really need to…"

"How do you feel about this? The divorce?" he asked, interrupting her second attempt to end the phone call. He was utterly terrified. Of her reaction, he was the most afraid. That's why he hadn't even tried to tell her in person. The coward that he was, he didn't want to see her face light up in glee over this news. Would she be happy about it? Of course he wouldn't know, but the mere idea that she could be…

All those years, Fuyumi had been the only one to hold on to the idea that they could ever be a proper family again. She had sacrificed so much for that. And then, when All Might had retired and Endeavor had taken up his position, Enji had finally realized his screw-ups — what he had done. If it hadn't been for Fuyumi back then, who knew if he would have had the strength to even try and turn himself around. But she had been there. The weeks that followed after All Might's retirement, she had been his guidance, whether she knew it or not. Of all his children, she had been the only one who actually wanted him there in the house, at the dinner table, with the rest of them. He knew that she probably wasn't the only one to wish for a real, happy and normal family. Natsuo and Shoto, they probably wanted that too. Maybe even Touya – who knew what Touya wanted? Maybe he just wanted a normal family for his siblings that he himself would not be a part of. But for all of them who craved for this normal family, he knew for a fact, that for the longest time, Fuyumi was the only one for whom he, Enji, was a part of that perfect family.

What if that had changed? To hear her joyous over the idea of a divorce… wouldn't that mean that she had given up, or at least finally thrown him out of this family that she wanted for so long?

Fuyumi sighed. He could hear her breathe on the other end. One, two, three times. The silence was almost agonizing.

"It's probably for the best," she said finally. "Goodbye, Dad." She ended the call with that, giving him no chance to stop her once more.

Enji had rarely heard a 'goodbye' sound so final. Numbly, he listened to the toot-toot of the dead line for a while. Then he finally put the phone down. He hadn't asked about her birthday, again.

He shifted the pack of ice again on his shoulder. One of the medics from his Agency had bandaged it up. He still sat shirtless on one of the cots on the medical floor. His eyes wandered up to the big round clock on the wall. It was getting late, but he didn't really read the time.

Fuyumi… What was he supposed to do, to make her see the truth?

Angrily, he threw the ice pack into the small sink.

If only he were a little better with people. Maybe he could make her believe him, talk her out of her denial. Maybe he would be better at seeing and hearing the warning signs and not put his foot in his mouth every time he talked to her. Of course, if he were better with people and specifically his children, he wouldn't have to deal with most of his problems.

He pushed himself off his cot, put his shirt back on and moved out of the room in a few strides. "I'm going home early today," he told the first person he met, but instead of driving down to the exit, he drove up into his room to put on ordinary clothes. A pair of dark jeans, a light blue shirt, and a cotton sweatshirt. Along with a brown leather belt and neutral brown street shoes. He had one more conversation to deal with.

Half an hour later, Matsuura drove him up to UA. He talked to the teachers first. For twenty minutes, he was made to wait in the common room of his son's dormitory with Eraserhead sitting on the other couch scrutinizing him up and down. Despite the comfortable cushion he sat on, Enji felt uncomfortable. His eyes kept wandering out of the huge window front to some of the students of Cclass 1-B who were training outside. It wasn't just Eraserhead's scrutiny that made him uncomfortable. More than that, it was the other children.

After Nezu had told him which dormitory to go to, Eraserhead had let him into the common room. It was a long room with a giant window front. Endeavor didn't really care about interior design, but it actually looked quite nice and welcoming, he had thought at first. One half of the room was taken up by a dining area with tables and chairs. On the other side were a TV, a fluffy carpet, and the couches he and Eraserhead sat upon now.

It would have been inviting, at least, Enji assumed, if not for the glaring teenaged eyes toward his back. When he had arrived, the room had been empty, apart from that electricity kid, who had reached the sports festival finals only to lose in the most embarrassing way. Eraserhead had sent the kid to bring down Shoto, but apparently on his way searching for Shoto he had sent down all the other brats he happened upon.

Every now and then, Enji looked back to see if Shoto had arrived by now, but instead, six other kids now sat there glaring at him. There was a boy with spikey red hair – one of the kids that had helped save Bakugou as he had seen in the hundreds of showings of the video feed from the Kamino Ward incident. That kid also had been in the sports festival finals this year, and not even done too badly if he remembered correctly. Then there was the girl with pink skin and hair, and horns. She had also reached the finals back then, he remembered. She had ultimately lost against the boy with the bird-head, he remembered. That kid was also here. Tsukuyomi… Hawks' Intern. And that was all the kids he knew. There were three others. A tall and muscular teenager with darker skin, a violet-haired girl who had stormed in with big eyes and her guitar still in hand, and a blond boy with a tail. They all sat there staring at him. He was sure by now they had multiplied again, but he didn't really want to look.

He was not good with kids. Especially not kids that surely blamed him for abusing their friend and of course, they were right. At first, they had muttered a little among themselves.

"We won't let him hurt Shoto again," one of them – he thought maybe the red-head – had said with conviction, the second he had entered the room. That had been the only sentence he had been able to make out completely. Now, it was mostly quiet, but they still glared at him.

"Why are you here, Todoroki-san," asked Eraserhead.

For a moment Enji regretted not having come in costume. He knew that was the only reason Eraserhead referred to him by his real name. It was probably also the reason Enji guessed, why Eraserheads voice now sounded about three degrees cooler compared to two days ago when they had met in costume. Now they weren't colleagues, but just a screw-up father and the disapproving teacher of his youngest son.

However, even Enji knew that this wasn't a business visit and coming in costume would have been inappropriate. Being a hero did not mean that you could do all your daily business in costume, profiting from special hero treatment. He had even killed off his beard completely, which made him feel even more vulnerable now.

"I just need to talk to him," Enji said. He smiled sourly, not willing to tell Eraserhead before he would tell Shoto. "It shouldn't take more than twenty minutes." Two, if Shoto was as impatient with him as Fuyumi, he thought.

Eraserhead opened his mouth, but then they heard the door open again, the hero's eyes flickered up and past Endeavor to the door and instead of saying what he wanted, he stood in a swift movement. "You can talk here or in the gardens," he informed Enji, and Enji already knew which he would prefer.

As he turned around to look at the door too, he finally caught sight of Shoto. His son still stood in the doorway, his hair a bit out of place, wearing more comfortable clothes than Enji had ever seen him in. Were those sweatpants? He decided not to linger on it, as he stood from his place on the couch.

His eyes fell on the boy behind Shoto, barely visible behind his son's back, but he still remembered that green-haired nuisance from the sports festival, from Hosu and from Kamino Ward. It seemed every time there was action, the boy was right in the thick of it. The thought almost made him snort – typical All Might-Wannabe – before he realized, his own son had been at all those incidents too.

"Shoto," he greeted as he walked up to him.

The boy eyed him a little. He had his arms crossed, but he didn't look defensive or hateful the way Enji could still remember from the sports festival, or that one time when he had watched the provisional license training. Instead, he seemed carefully wary. That was an improvement at least.

"What do you want, old man?" Shoto asked. Enji's eyes flickered to the other kids sitting on the table next to them and to the Midoriya-brat who stood next to Shoto now. The way his son disrespected him in front of others… But he felt he hardly cared apart from the minor discomfort.

"Can we talk in private?" he asked. "We could go outside a bit." He would take Eraserhead up on his offer.

Shoto looked outside through the windows, then he shrugged. "Sure." That was all he said, as he opened the glass door and led Enji out on the patio. He could see the boy glance at his friends shortly before the closed the door again and turned to Endeavor. He led the way a few dozen steps away from the window and the close-by students of 1-B who were still running circles around the dormitories, until they found a sole park bench.

Enji immediately sat down, and Shoto hesitated only shortly before he sat next to him. "So, what is it?" the younger Todoroki asked again.

Enji watched a couple of pigeons waddle over the schoolyard for a few seconds before he spoke up. "I went to visit your mother," he started.

Almost immediately, Shoto snapped upright, as if called to attention. He whirled toward Enji, staring at him wide-eyed. "I thought she wasn't supposed to see you!" He blurted a bit accusatory. "The doctors say it's not good for her."

Enji nodded. "It's not, but it couldn't be helped. Somebody had to tell her about Touya."

He didn't mean it as an accusation, but that was obviously how Shoto took it. He turned back, staring at his knees. "I couldn't do it…," he admitted. "I was so afraid I might lose her again if she reacted badly to it. And I hardly see her anyway. I thought Natsuo would tell her."

Enji nodded in acknowledgment. He had already guessed as much.

"How did she take it?" Worry was obvious in his voice. "Both about Touya and seeing you?"

Endeavor grunted. "Surprisingly well," he glanced back at Shoto. "Saturday, I asked Natsuo to visit and answer all her open questions. So she should be up to speed now." As much as anybody could be up to speed in this mess. A month had passed, and he still felt like he was plunged head-first into ice-cold water, and he still hadn't found which way was up. "However, after I told her, she asked me for a divorce."

Shoto almost jumped up from the bench in shock. He stared at his father in utter disbelief. Enji stared back almost equally surprised. He hadn't expected such a reaction. Actually, he had thought that Shoto would be happy with the revelation. Of all his children Endeavor had expected Shoto to be happiest about those news; he had thought Shoto would beam with joy. He had always loved his mother, he had always – more than anybody – thought Enji was bad for Rei, and more than once had he hissed at him as a child, to stay away from his mother. The boy had adored Rei and had never wanted Enji to even so much as to be in the same room as her. To Shoto, more than to anybody else, the marriage of his parents had always seemed like a sham — just there to torture his mother. Enji knew that now.

He had expected Shoto to be happy or relieved, or even to just think it would be for the best. Instead, the boy stared at him in almost despair, shaking his head.

"I didn't think you would be so upset," Enji admitted, a bit flustered.

"Upset?!" Shoto bellowed. "If you're going to divorce, what's going to happen to me?" His cheeks reddened from the stress so obvious on his face. "Fuyumi and Natsuo are adults, so sure, they will be fine. But I'm fifteen. I know, you're not going to give custody over to her!" There was deep hurt, rage, and insecurity in his voice.

"Ah…," it made Enji sad that it was this that made Shoto react so badly. Maybe it was just a reflexive fear, that Enji might take his mother away for good now, something ingrained in him, after so many years. Maybe it was nothing he thought would actually happen, but just an old fear returning now that it could technically become reality. Or maybe that was really what Shoto thought of him, even now. Enji's chest tightened uncomfortably as he looked away, forcing himself not to think about it.

"'Ah', what?" Shoto asked.

"Technically," he informed Shoto, "your mother didn't have custody over you, since—"

"Screw you!" Shoto interrupted him, screaming.

"Shoto!" Enji's voice was loud and demanding of his son's attention. The boy immediately shut up, if only from shock, but Enji knew, if he didn't speak immediately, Shoto would catch himself and start shouting again, so he quickly moved on: "Nothing will change, okay? I promise. You live in UA now for most of the year until your 18. During the breaks, if there is no program in UA, you'll live in my house, as always. If Rei gets better, as soon as she gets better, we can talk about this again, okay? You're almost sixteen years old, I couldn't stop you from seeing your mother, even if I wanted to."

Shoto stared at him, then he snapped his mouth shut and nodded. "Good," he only said looking suddenly ashamed of his outbreak.

"Your siblings already know," he continued more quietly. "I don't really know how long this process will take, but…" What did he want to say? That Shoto should prepare himself? He had just promised him nothing – or at least nothing important concerning Shoto – would change. "Maybe you should ask your teachers if you could visit her soon. She'll probably want to talk to you about it herself. Never mind she'll want to know how you're doing with Touya. And you can…"

He snapped his mouth shut, as he realized he had started scrambling. He fumbled with his hands in his lap. Sometimes he thought he should start smoking too, like Nakamura, just so he always had something to hold in his hands and keep himself busy with during these types of talks. He was just not good at them. At talking to his kids in general.

"Fuyumi's birthday is on Thursday." He just blurted it out. With Natsuo, there had never been the right moment to bring it up. With Fuyumi herself, she hadn't even given him enough time to mention it. But now, with Shoto, Enji was just sitting there and fumbling for words…

Shoto didn't answer at first. He just looked over at his father with raised eyebrows, waiting for an explanation, why Enji had brought the topic up. Finally, he shrugged. "I know. What of it?"

Enji glanced over at him. "Do you know if she… Is something planned? A party or something?"

Shoto blinked a few times, then he nodded. "I've been invited for Friday," he answered glancing back at the dormitories. "Eraserhead gave me permission to go, so I'll probably be there."

Enji nodded. "I see." He muttered. "I probably shouldn't come." He said it more to himself than to Shoto, but Shoto answered regardless:

"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea."

So now, at least he knew. A few weeks ago, he found out where Fuyumi lived now. Some letters had arrived at his house that were meant for her, and it had been the perfect excuse to write her and ask for her new address, so he could send the letters to her new home. So he knew where she lived: a small apartment in one of the Musutafu suburbs. A part of the city where many people with lower income, young people, and students lived. It wasn't a bad part of the town, but if her new flat was just like the average flat in her new neighborhood, she had apparently exchanged the sprawling Todoroki estates for a three-room apartment with no garden or balcony. It wasn't bad for her, he thought, Fuyumi was 23 and didn't need much. But still, he was looking for every reason he could get, about why she should move back home. He knew at his house, there would be a lot more space for parties.

He also knew that he wasn't invited. Yes, she had given him the address, but she had never asked him to come by and visit. If she threw a party, he wouldn't crash it. Maybe he could drive by her place in the morning, give her a present and leave before it could get awkward.

"Any idea what she might need?" Enji asked Shoto.

Shoto just stared and shook his head. "I'll give her a Vietnamese style cookbook." That didn't really help Enji, so they lapsed back into silence.

"Congratulations on the license," he finally said, remembering the message earlier today. "I'm very proud of you." He had said that already once, and Shoto had not reacted well to it, he remembered. The boy had pushed his hand away and glared up at him in resentment.

Now Shoto looked at him for a while, shoving his hands in his pocket, not saying anything.

"You know, that I am proud of you, right?" he said again if only to get a reaction. But Shoto remained silent. He just looked away, as if Enji hadn't said anything. "I guess, I…," Enji started to stand up from the bench ready to go. He had said what he had come here to say.

"Teach me flashfire," he suddenly heard his son mutter.

He turned back to him. "Flashfire?" he asked as if he hadn't heard right. He had stopped trying to teach Shoto that when he had been around… what, nine? Or maybe ten. It just hadn't worked, and Shoto had blocked every attempt to learn it.

 _He'd been too young!_

Back then, he had decided to just teach it a few years later, but shortly after Shoto's 'rebellious years' had started, he had all but given up on ever teaching this technique to him.

"Hn!" Shoto nodded. "A few days ago, in training, I reached my limit," he admitted, "that way the other students are passing me by. I need to get hotter flames, so there is nothing I can't melt if necessary."

Enji stared at him. A wide smile crept over his face. Oh, he had waited so long for this. For Shoto to ask him to train him. And maybe, this time, he could do it right. They'd have to spend time together. He was about to agree happily, as he suddenly stopped. Wasn't that what he wanted? He could finally get to know his son for real, now that he actually paid attention to him. In time, Shoto might even grow to like him.

It was such a grand opportunity. And yet…

"I can't," he said so quietly, it was almost a whisper.

"What?" Shoto asked, disbeliefve in his voice, as if he was sure he had misheard.

"I can't," Enji said ashamed.

Shoto stared at him, teeth grit, eyes narrowed in disbelieving anger. "What do you mean you can't?"

"I just can't," he repeated raising his voice in frustration. He opened his hand to produce a small flame. "I have been having problems with my quirk, recently." He hadn't reached the temperature needed for flashfire since Touya had held that gun to his face. He hadn't even come close to being able to use flashfire in his training. How could he teach Shoto something he wasn't able to do himself? He could tell him the basic idea, sure, but Enji knew the basic idea and still he couldn't use it anymore. It was wrong! He couldn't teach Shoto the wrong way. That would be worse than not teaching it at all. If Shoto just gave it time and trained in his own time, he might just find the right way himself. "I've been keeping it a secret," he said, "but I can't use flashfire currently."

"You're joking right?" Shoto asked suspiciously, then his eyes widened. "Gods, you're serious." He looked furious now, but instead of screaming, he suddenly smiled and started laughing as if the boy had turned mad right in front of Enji's eyes. The laughter was so loud it made the 1-B class that was still running around the dorms stop and look back at them from a hundred meters away. It wasn't happy laughter, though. Instead, it sounded ugly and humorless, like nothing he had heard before. It was grating. "Just perfect!" Shoto finally shouted at him. "All my life you forced me to train until I was vomiting on the floor, all the time you beat me bruised and bloody so I could learn your stupid technique!" His voice got gradually louder. "And now when I ask you to train me for the first time when I need your help, you SUDDENLY CAN'T?" He screamed the last words right in his face making Enji's ears ring. "I don't believe it! That's the biggest joke I've heard in a while!"

He laughed again. Enji just stared at him. He felt ashamed. "Sorry," he mumbled, although he didn't really know which part of that ugly joke he was apologizing for.

The students from 1-B were looking over at them in concern. A boy with silver hair and a girl with orange hair already were walking towards the father and son at the bench. They stopped, however, when they saw the Midoriya-kid rushing at them from the dormitory of class 1-A.

"Todoroki-kun," Midoriay called worriedly from afar, "what's going on? Are you alright?" He looked at Enji shortly, as he ran toward them, coming to a stumbling halt next to Enji's son, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Todoroki-kun, what's going on?" He threw Enji another suspicious glance, but other than that ignored the elder Todoroki. Even as Enji stood up, neither he nor Shoto reacted to his movement.

"I'm fine," Shoto muttered, "I'm just perfect. My life is a joke and…" Enji didn't really care to listen to their conversation, as he made his way back to the dormitory, to give his quick goodbyes to Eraserhead and the other students. They hardly even looked at him with their attention fixed on Shoto who had at least finally stopped laughing after the other boy had arrived.

* * *

 **A/N** So a little bit of Shoto back in the story, though it's not much. I hope you'll like it anyway.

Other than that... Meet Endeavor's Sidekicks...  
Or at least two of the four I'm working with at the moment. As I mentioned before, I decided against bringing in Burnin, because I already had the concepts for the sidekicks before I read about her in the Manga...

To be honest, the sidekicks were the main reason why I added this little segment to the story. I want to get a little into detail with their look, powers, and costume so you can imagine the team whenever Endeavor is on patrol in the future. Even though I tried to describe them whenever I had the chance, I felt like it was really insufficient.

Actually I thought about drawing them, but I failed pathetically so ... if I have a reader here who likes to draw and wants to rise to the challenge :D That would make me very happy!

So, let's start with:

Yasui Wataru, heroname: Avalanche  
Quirk: Avalanche - Wataru can create snow by using the moisture in the air or vicinity. He's very good with his quirk so he can even pull down a cloud if there is not enough water around him. However, he has trouble controlling the snow when it gets too much. He could theoretically control real snow (for example during a snow storm) but the limit of how much he can control won't change even if he doesn't have the added stress of having to create it first.  
Wataru is a 31-year-old man with light grey eyes and mostly short blonde hair. He has a rather average build, which makes him look rather lithe next to the more muscular heroes like Endeavor or Death Arms. The most prominent part of his costume is a short light blue (almost grey) fur jacket with dark grey fur on the inside. He carries it open wearing a white wool sweater and dark wool trousers underneath. He has a white headband to keep his ears warm. He also wears white boots that are thickly layered with grey furs and cloth. This is at least what you can see at first glance. His costume is designed to keep him warm while it is also multilayered. Since he works together with Endeavor the temperature he has to work in is always fluctuating, so he's just shedding layers of his clothes onion-style.  
He has an emergency heating system sowed into his inner layers. Apart from that, he doesn't use support items aside from communication devices.

Wataru is a perfectionist, which is the reason he always takes a bit longer to do a task than strictly necessary. He graduated from Ketsubutsu Academy and he was one of their best. Endeavor's Agency pretty much poached him right after his graduation. Although he always thinks about going independent, he did enjoy a certain degree of prestige working for one of the most sought out Agencies in the country. After all, he is Endeavor's most senior sidekicks who gets to lead the business in Endeavor's absence. This is also the reason Endeavor's loss of popularity really bugs Wataru.

Uchida Akemi, heroname: Silent Tracker  
Quirk: Animutation - Her quirk allows her to turn into animals that she cuddled beforehand. She actually has to 'cuddle' them or touch them for a lengthy amount of time, for it to work, which makes this very easy for domestic animals or even some not-so-shy insects, but much more difficult for wild animals. After 'cuddling' she can only turn into the animal once (to do it again, she'd have to touch the animal again), but she can stay in her form as long as she likes. Since partial mutations are impossible, this is really tricky to use in combat but super-useful for espionage.

Akemi is a 25-year-old female with really curly dark brown locks. Her hair is rather short, so it curls all around her head but doesn't fall to her shoulders. She also has brown eyes, is about 5'5'' and has a very pointy little nose.  
Silent Tracker's hero costume is... depressingly dark. She wears a black hood, that covers most of her upper body, leather gloves with plating for better punching, and thick dark green trousers with a lot of pockets. Her boots are very robust similar to Deku's and she has a belt with various support items. Below her hood, she wears kevlar-like protection. Because she often fights with her bare fists instead of using her quirk in combat too often, and since she is not the physically strongest person, she relies on a lot of support items (she has tranquilizer darts, ultra-thin vire for capture and support, smoke bombs etc.). Despite how much stuff she carries around, her gear is ultra-light, to make her faster.

Akemi is probably the most loyal to Endeavor among all his sidekicks. The reason for that is a scandal in the past, where Endeavor helped er out and stood by her. She is a UA graduate. Akemi is often rather quiet and doesn't want more attention than necessary, at the same time, however, she tends to be brutally honest.


	29. Rescue, Rescue, Death

A few days late, but also a bit longer this week. It's also a bit different to what happened before, so I felt a bit insecure about it at first. I hope you like it anyway!

* * *

 **Rescue, Rescue, Death**

On Tuesday he worked the whole day. It was dark when he left his home and it was dark again when he returned, barely managing to drag his tired body to his bed before he fell asleep. Wednesday work started early again, and the muscles in his back and arms were still aching from last night.

In the early morning, he went out to patrol. The day started slow. There was some minor scuffle on the road after two guys got into a fight over some damage to a parked car. Then a pickpocketer, and an old guy falling asleep at the wheel who almost rammed his van into a group of middle-aged ladies. Around eleven Endeavor was ready for an early lunch break, since nothing seemed to be happening anyway.

Shrinking Girl was chattering with the old lady at the kiosk where she bought her lunch. She had a bento box in one hand and a bottle of coke stuck under her arm while she tried to get enough money out of her purse to pay the kiosk lady. Avalanche sat down on a wall and Endeavor tried to get as much distance to him as possible. The snow hero always brought nattou for lunch, and while Enji didn't particularly hate it, he didn't like the smell and didn't want his sandwiches ruined by the stink of fermented soybeans.

When Shrinking Girl came back over from the kiosk, she sniffed her nose in mild disgust, but then sat between Endeavor and Avalanche as if the smell didn't concern her at all. Her blonde pigtails waved with every movement.

"Not much happening today, huh?" she said as she pulled off her white gloves with the metal plating and spikes to increase the effectiveness of her punches, opened her box and snapped her chopsticks apart to start her lunch. "Good thing! We needed a quiet day. Itadakimasu!" She grinned down at her food with a broad smile but seemed to need a while to decide which of the different kinds of sushi she wanted to try first.

"Don't say it," Avalanche muttered as he chewed his nattou. "Just don't say it! That ruins…"

As if Avalanche could see the future, Endeavor suddenly heard the noise of sirens. It was far away, just barely audible at all, but Endeavor who had his senses sharpened for these kinds of noises immediately recognized it — although he had trouble at first placing it. He jumped from his seat at the wall and looked around, unable to see anything. Then, with his half-eaten sandwich still in hand, he used his fire to propel himself up on the rooftops.

The roof he landed on was just of a medium height, so although it was a clear day, his sight was blocked by the taller buildings. Still from here at least, he could better hear the sirens. It came from the northwest, and now he could also distinguish that it had to be multiple vehicles of the police, ambulance, and the fire department. He quickly pulled his phone out, and in fact, before he could even call Inari to ask if he had information on where the catastrophe was, the phone rang.

"Where is it?" Endeavor asked in lieu of a greeting.

"143, 4," Inari said the address immediately, "in Aldera."

Endeavor jumped back down to his sidekicks to give them the address. "I'll already move forward, hurry as fast as you can." Within seconds he had his fire activated to shoot himself in the right direction.

In the meantime, Inari supplied him with new information. "I don't know much as of yet. I just have a video feed from Musutafu Channel 7. They are already there. It seems to be spreading fast."

"Spreading fast?" Endeavor repeated. "What about fire hazard protections in the building?"

"They seem to be failing or insufficient." Inari had to guess.

"Did the fire department ask for support?" Endeavor asked, landing on a rooftop, running two steps before leaping up into the air again.

"Not yet, they… Wait…" There was a short break. "Now they did. I have more information, give me a second."

Endeavor waited impatiently as he leaped to another rooftop, jumped back into the air, and used his fire to speed the whole process up. He had to be faster! Aldera was on the other side of town. Depending on how fast "spreading fast" was, he wouldn't make it in time to help anybody.

"Okay, we have a fourteen-story apartment building on fire. First call was 5 minutes ago. No villain as far as we know of. Heroes are already at the scene, firefighters are stuck in traffic, the onlookers are blocking the street."

"I'll be there in three minutes," he huffed. Five would be more accurate, but he'd make it in three. He ended the call, putting the phone away in mid-jump. Then he scrambled in his pouch for his earpiece. He hated working with that thing, as the technology always malfunctioned as soon as he used his flames in the general area of his ear, but now that he was separated from Avalanche and Shrinking Girl, he needed it.

The little thing might be sensitive to his fire, but it was the best technology out there, so it needed no time to connect him to his two sidekicks. While he supplied them with the information he now had, he could already see the smoke rising up from the buildings about two kilometers away. A thick column of dark grey and black smoke wormed its way to the sky right in front of him. He only had to change his direction a little bit from his original course to jet straight towards it. Now he could already smell the thick stink of smoke in the air. He couldn't see the fire itself yet.

That was until he passed another high rise and had finally free sight toward the apartment building. The shock almost made him halt in his movement, but then he doubled the force of his flames to reach the building even faster.

"We're still fifteen minutes out," Avalanche informed him the moment, Endeavor came to a skidding halt right in front of the area a handful of police had already closed off with barrier tape.

The sight in front of him was truly horrifying. Whatever happened, it seemed the fire had started on the third floor. It must have started and spread with sudden explosive force, with the entire third and fourth floors already burned down and charred black on the outside with burst windows, and charred and cracked concrete. So, either the fire had started and remained undetected until it had already spread over half the floor, or it must have within just a few minutes conquered two entire floors and spread into the fifth, sixth and seventh floors. Especially on the east side of the building, the façade was burned black, and flames danced orange and red out of several windows of all five floors already affected by the fire.

If evacuation had only started 10 minutes ago when the first emergency calls had come in, then to Endeavor it seemed clear that there was no way the third to the seventh floor could have been evacuated in time. There were still people running out of the building, probably coming from the lower floors, being led to a safety zone set up by the police. But they too seemed to be horrified with the scene behind them, glancing up to the upper floors every now and then, knowing there was no way, the people on the higher levels could make it down using the stairs. Another problem that seemed obvious at first glance was the lack of emergency personnel on scene. Two police cars and a single ambulance had made it before gawkers had closed off almost the entire street with cars, bikes and people. He could hear the deafening sirens of multiple fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars, but they all seemed to be stuck in traffic advancing at a snail's pace.

Only the heroes, who had mostly come on foot, made it to the scene of the catastrophe. Backdraft was here. He stood on a balcony of a neighboring building and had his hands full, spraying water on the flames in the upper floors, trying to prevent the fire from spreading further. As the only water hero on the scene and with no firefighters to support him, he was fighting a losing battle. Mt. Lady was there in her giant form, helping people from the upper stories down to the ground, but there seemed to be hundreds of people up there and only her by herself, alone in her struggle to get them all down. The flames from the lower floors were licking at her costume, but she remained steadfast and calm, despite the pain she must surely be feeling on her thighs and stomach.

"Are Backdraft and Mt. Lady the only ones?" Endeavor asked the closest police officer.

"Death Arms is up there, too, helping Mt. Lady," the woman answered, pointing up at the burning building.

Endeavor turned to the masses of onlookers. He could see movement in the back, of people clearly trying to make space for the emergency services, but the people in front didn't even seem to realize that they were in the way despite the deafening noises.

"YOU ALL NEED TO MOVE!" Endeavor yelled at them. His voice was strong and powerful, but in the loud cacophony of sirens, motors and people screaming, it hardly carried over the masses. "EVERYBODY WHO DOES NOT MOVE WILL GET BURNED!" He warned loudly. He knew the people right in front of him, heard him, as they immediately scrambled to the side, opening a small passage for Endeavor. Before the gap could start closing again, he shot his flames right through the middle. Maybe it was his fire itself, maybe it was the immediate vicinity to the burning building and the horrific scenario that unfolded right in front of their eyes, but the people immediately parted. It took a minute or two until his flames found their way to the first emergency vehicles down the street.

He clenched his teeth in anger that he had to waste so much time on something that wouldn't be necessary if the people could behave properly and not block the way just so they had the perfect sight for this horrific event. He was also mildly annoyed at the insults he received. How dare he attack the public? How dare he threaten them?

He didn't really care for their anger. When he started broadening the passage by splitting his stream of fire in two and steadily moving it apart until even a fire truck could comfortably fit in between, he didn't even care for the odd yelps of pain when one of them couldn't or didn't move fast enough and got their toes and fingers burned a little. The fire he used wasn't particularly hot and he only used thin tendrils of fire, so the onlookers would only receive minor first-degree burns anyway. Finally, when the passage was wide enough, he increased their intensity and walled both sides of the passage off with high burning walls of fire.

There were enraged shouts from the masses, screams of fear, but he hardly cared, as he could see the firetruck a mere 150 meters away from him pick up speed and make its way through the passage.

Immediately, he left it at that and leaped to Backdraft using his flames. He knew the flame-walls would only last a few minutes, but he hoped by then the fire trucks would have found their way through, or at least the mass of gawkers got the message and left the path open.

Backdraft stood at the edge of his balcony trying to douse the flames on the seventh floor and prevent the fire from spreading as Endeavor landed next to him with a heavy thud. "Can you hold this?" Endeavor yelled over the noise of the sirens.

"Hold it… just barely," Backdraft answered, panting and huffing, already exhausted. "I can't get it under control, but…"

"How long can you hold?" Endeavor asked sharply.

"Ten more minutes?" He glanced at Endeavor in what looked like despair. Then he moved his right hand a little and shot one of his streams of water into a different window where an angry orange tongue of fire leapt out into the cold December air.

"Make it fifteen," Endeavor demanded, "I'll go in and look for survivors."

"You can't!" Backdraft said immediately, then he looked at Endeavor and apparently reconsidered. "Good luck."

"What's your frequency?" Endeavor asked, pointing at his earpiece.

"1345.34," Backdraft panted.

Endeavor immediately used the headset to give the frequency to Avalanche and Shrinking Girl.

"We're almost there," said Shrinking Girl, breathing heavily from running across half the city.

"When you arrive, Avalanche, you help with taking out the Fire. Shrinking Girl, you help Mt. Lady with the evacuation."

Then he switched into Backdraft's channel.

Immediately, he could hear voices in his ear.

"I got two survivors on the sixth floor. But I can't reach them. It's too—" Death Arms was interrupted by his own coughing and a second voice.

"FD 2 arrived," it had to be a Captain from the first fire truck to arrive. Backdraft next to Endeavor immediately looked relieved.

"Death Arms, I'm coming in. Where are you?" asked Endeavor as he leaped across the gap between Backdrafts balcony and the burning building. He crossed his arms protectively over his face as he smashed through the window. Red flames glowed from the inside as he landed on the charred and burned carpet. Immediately, the orange inferno leaped for the new source of oxygen.

"Apartment 603, if you come into the main floor, you'll see me," Death Arms answered. He coughed again.

Endeavor looked around as he ran through what was once a family living room into a child's bedroom, and then through a burned and crumpled wall out onto the main floor. It seemed at least the inhabitants of this flat had left their apartment and probably fled to the higher up floors in time before they could fall victim to the flames.

As Death Arms had said, Endeavor could see him the moment he stepped out of the flat. Despite the smoke hanging thick in the air, Death Arms' hulking silhouette was easy to find perched low in front of a door. Endeavor ran up to him.

"What's going on?" he asked, trying not to inhale the smoke as he spoke.

"Good, you're here!" exclaimed Death Arms holding his arm in front of his face to protect himself from the smoke and what must be almost unbearable heat for him. He pointed into the flat. "The whole floor and living room are on fire. I can't get through."

Endeavor could already see it as he came to stand next to Death Arms. Somebody had cladded the walls and floors in decorative wooden panels, that burned bright orange and red and even blue. It was a true inferno. In the living room, the carpet and more wooden paneling had gone up in flames. The ceiling was charred black, and he could see several burst light bulbs and electrical devices.

"HELP!" he could hear a weak female voice scream from somewhere behind the living room.

"I got it, look for more survivors," Endeavor ordered and jumped into the inferno. His eyes were tearing from the smoke and he held his breath as he ran through the worst of it, before he reached the living room. He carelessly smashed through a burning couch and found his way to another door.

"Help!" the voice repeated a lot quieter now.

Endeavor knocked against the door with a heavy fist. "Step away from the door!" he demanded. Three seconds later he opened the door hurried through and smashed it shut again before the flames leaped into the room.

A family of four had found refuge in their own bathroom. Smoke curled at the ceiling, but the fires hadn't yet reached into the room. Although the door Endeavor had just opened had been charred from the outside, it hadn't burned down just yet, and it seemed this room was the only room in the house decorated almost entirely in tiles. An adult female crouched low next to a bathtub, a man sat against the toilet looking a bit delirious, and in the bathtub itself, two children sat in a minuscule puddle of water. One of the kids was a girl with a leathery brown tail and horns, another child, a young boy of maybe three or four years, had lost consciousness. On the other side of the room, opposite the door, there was a small bathroom window that was open to let some of the smoke out.

"Oh, thank God!" the woman said, turning to her children and saying something to them in a hushed tone, so Endeavor couldn't hear. The man, who Endeavor assumed was her husband that had a similar tail and horns as his daughter but also reddish colored skin, turned to Endeavor blinking at him in clear confusion.

Endeavor eyed the opposite wall unhappily. The window was too small to climb through and with the whole living floor on fire, there was no chance he could get the family through there. He had to go through the wall.

"Don't worry," he told the family, looking at the parents. "Take your children," he instructed, "and step away from the wall." He pointed at the opposite wall that led to the outside. As he raised his fist, he could see the girl staring at him with tears in her eyes. "No need to be afraid," he told her and even tried to smile reassuringly, although it felt off on his face. As he smashed his fist against the wall, the tile and wood and insulation and concrete immediately gave way. A wave of his flames shot outside with the punch. He used a modified and weaker version of his Hell Spider to shred the falling fragment of the wall into pieces. Since he couldn't reach his normal temperatures for his flashfire technique, the job was sloppier than usual, and while he managed to incinerate most of the wood and insulating material, the remaining tiles and stones survived and fell to the ground in smaller pieces. He just hoped the pieces were small enough to not hurt anybody if the police hadn't managed to evacuate the area directly below him.

He was distracted as the girl and the woman suddenly screamed next to him. The man had slumped against the toilet. Unconscious from the smoke. Both mother and daughter were already panicking. The woman who held her unconscious son in one arm, now grabbed her husband by the shoulder and tried to shake him awake, tears streaming down her face. The girl had grabbed her father's collar and shook it.

"Daddy! Daddy!"

With a single step, Endeavor crouched next to both of them. He had his hand around the girls clutching her father's shirt. "I need you to let go," he said as calmly as he could despite the impatience he felt. "Your father will be fine. But you have to let go, alright?" The girl stared at him, but before she could actually let go, her mother suddenly grabbed Endeavor's wrist, digging her long nails into his skin.

"Save my children!" She demanded. "Save them please!"

"I will. I will save you all, but you need to calm down. Hold onto your son." Her arm tightened around the unconscious boy, but she still didn't let go of Endeavor's wrist. Instead, in her panic, her nails dug even deeper into his skin.

"Please! You have to take them to safety! The smoke…" She wouldn't stop begging as if she hadn't even heard him. The smoke had already cleared, as most of it escaped through the hole in the wall. But they already had to deal with another problem. It got hotter in the room, and Endeavor could smell burnt wood. Who knew how long the door would hold? Never mind that there were surely other people trapped in the building just like this family.

As if on cue, he could hear Death Arms rough voice. "I've got two more! Endeavor?"

"I need two minutes," Endeavor hissed trying once again not to sound impatient. "Okay," he looked at the girl, "you need to help me save your father. I'll lift you two up, okay? And you have to make sure he doesn't fall off."

She looked at him with wide fearful eyes, then she nodded and finally let go of her father. Immediately Endeavor lifted the man up onto his left shoulder. The girl almost climbed on his back herself. He turned his hand a bit uncomfortably, so that he could hold onto her tail with the left hand, just in case she slipped off. Then he sneaked his right hand around the woman and her son. "Hold tight!" he warned. "And don't be afraid. I've got you." He jumped out of the hole in the wall he had just created.

As if he hadn't warned them, the girl screamed in panic, trashed in shock and let go of his back, but she still held onto her father's clothes. He immediately activated his quirk on his feet to halt his fall. Only a few seconds later, he landed in front of two policemen.

"Take care of them, I need to go back," he demanded as he let the family down in front of them. As he was about to leap into the air again, he was suddenly stopped. Only now did he realize that the woman had never let go of his wrist the entire time. "You need to let go," he told her, putting his left hand over her fingers on his right wrist. Then he ripped his wrist free with mild force. He could hear her whimper a bit as he stepped away and leaped back into the air.

"Where should I go, Death Arms?" he asked as he flew back up.

Instead of hearing a reply, he could see Death Arms appear in a window. Further up, he could see the telltale signs of Avalanche snow-quirk. His sidekicks had arrived and started helping at once.

Within the next 30 minutes, he and Death Arms evacuated a grand total of 4 families and 3 individual people from the sixth floor. They also found the dead body of a young woman. She looked almost unharmed, except for an angry red burn on one of her forearms and her clothes were charred a little, which at first glance, Endeavor had thought she was alive. Only when he came closer, he saw her pale almost bluish lips and skin, and as he turned her around her body was lifeless to the touch. She must have suffocated in the smoke, he realized. He was very sure, she was dead, but he had Death Arms carry her to safety just in case.

As soon as the sixth floor was done, he instructed Death Arms to go back up to help Mt. Lady with the upper floors. The fire department had finally arrived and gradually got the flames under control; it seemed the fire wouldn't spread further than the eighth floor. Still, even with most people on the seventh and eighth floors already having evacuated, the smoke was still dangerous. It rose up to the upper floors. For Death Arms, Endeavor knew, the fifth floor and below would be too dangerous.

The fire had destroyed just about everything down there, the heat and smoke and acidic smell were even worse than it was up here. Death Arms, clearly had enough trouble with the smoke and heat as is. It was unlikely that they could still find survivors down there anyway.

Despite his own fire-quirk, Endeavor hated working at fire scenes. People always expected that because of his quirk, he would be immune to it or maybe he could even put it out. Both were wrong assumptions that he had never cared to rebuke because as a hero, every villain already knew about your strengths, and he would not be so stupid as to publicize his weaknesses either.

Because of his perceived immunity to fire, he was always the only one who could go to all the places that seemed too hot or too dangerous for everybody else. There was some logic to that, as his body had a high tolerance for heat, although he could still get burned if he wasn't careful. Worse, however, was the smoke that was as dangerous to him as it was to anybody else.

By now, the fire department had supplied him with a simple gas mask, that was by no means suited to filter out all the poisonous smoke, but he preferred it to an air tank. Those would only last for thirty minutes, and as he had to dig through burning rubble, red hot metal beams and charred stone to find possible survivors, he couldn't afford to leave the building every few minutes to exchange his air tank. Never mind that he wasn't even sure whether standard firefighter-gear could withstand these temperatures.

In the end, though, even the smoke wasn't his biggest problem. The problem, and the reason he hated fires, was because he always went where the fire was hottest, where only he could reach, hoping he may be able to find some lucky survivors. But down here, people didn't survive.

He made his way through three apartments, welding down a broken beam of metal or bursting through crumpled stone walls. His eyes stung and teared up, and through the smoke and tears, he could hardly see further than his own hand in front of him. Above him and around him, the fire still roared, giving the fire department a tough battle, but here, while some flames still licked at the walls, they had already burned everything that might be flammable. Now, it was like the stone and metal were on fire, glowing red and orange. His feet trudged over white embers and black charcoal, crumpling to dust when he touched it. It was like an oven. They might have been furniture once, or carpets, books or toys —. Now they were all just black remains, indistinguishable from the rest of the charred mess. The first two apartments had thankfully been evacuated. In the third apartment, there was another dead person. A black grotesque figure on what might have been a bed once, still distinguishable as clearly human. And another smaller corpse of maybe a cat or a small dog. There was nothing he could do.

He hated house fires! There wasn't even a villain he could fight!

He moved on. Four more apartments, two more dead people, there was a child, barely three feet tall. He guessed that it had to be a child. Dying alone and in agony… and he might be sick now. He just tried to remember where the dead people were, so they could later place them into their apartments and give them names and faces that the fire had long burned away.

He lost track of time as he made his way from one apartment to the next, calling out every now and then, although he knew nobody would answer. It was exhausting and slow work. He could hardly see with all the smoke in the air, and regularly he had to take a break and pause leaning against a window to get some much-needed oxygen. The hallways were almost unrecognizable, making it almost impossible for him to orient himself between the many apartments, stairways and corridors. In many places, the walls and parts of the ceiling had caved in, forcing him to find a way around or destroy a wall and risk parts of the furiously hot ceiling collapsing over his head.

His costume was drenched in soot, charcoal, and his sweat after only a short time. He was thankful for all the times that he had gotten used to fighting in similar condition despite his own rising body heat. That made it a lot easier to keep his thoughts straight and his actions purposeful. At some point, he jumped through a hole in the ground through the fourth floor, where he found two lifeless bodies cowering against the wall of a ruined kitchen. He thought they must be dead, at first, but as he came closer, he realized that the black on their faces was just soot and ash, while the skin underneath still looked rosy, almost red and alive. They were unresponsive to his words and touch, so he carried them out the way he had the people before them, not knowing if they were alive or dead and whether they could be saved if they were even still alive. He left them with the paramedics, hoping they could be saved so as to not make his hard work for naught.

They were the first people he saved out of these destroyed apartments on the lower floors. Shortly after he was back in the building, with tearing eyes and an itchy nose, but at least he felt like it might be worth it.

He made his way downwards, fighting the sting in his eyes and scratch in his throat that made him almost gag. At some point, he stood in a corridor taking several deep inhales, the air sizzling through the mask's filtering system with a rattling sound. He concentrated on getting a feeling for his own body, trying to guess how much of the poisonous smoke he may have already inhaled. It was impossible. There was a slight headache, but that could be from a lack of oxygen or poisonous smoke or just the heat in general.

Then, he trudged down the staircase, towards the sounds of the sirens of the firefighters still battling the flames. Suddenly, he stopped, then ran; he took several stairs in a single powerful leap. There was a man, crumbled on the stairs halfway between the fourth and fifth floor. He wasn't burned. At least not severely — the skin was burned at his hands and arms where he must have touched hot metal or stone, but that was it. His quirk had turned his skin a light blue, edging on purple where it was burned and scalded. The unusual coloring made it difficult to gauge whether he was still alive. He was on his side, motionless on the floor.

He could not have been here for long. Maybe he had tried to escape from the flames on the upper floors, trying to flee over the stairs. He must have been disoriented, moved down into even greater danger, only to run into the cloud of smoke and heat that was so thick there, and that only slowly crept its way upward.

Endeavor didn't even check his pulse or breath. The man looked alive — unconscious, but alive. There was sweat still glistening on his blue-skinned forehead. So he grabbed him, dragged him over his shoulders and took the first possible exit he could find. Out of the window. He was on the fourth floor now, and as he dropped down, his own quirk almost betrayed him. He only managed to catch his fall so close to the ground. For a second, he thought that he would break both his legs against the pavement. Luckily he didn't, but he still landed so hard that the impact jolted his joints, his gasp was muffled against the gas mask's interior.

The first thing he did was rip the cursed thing off his face, dragging in a relieving breath of fresh air. Endeavor was not prepared for the painful rebellion of his throat, as so much air suddenly rushed past his tortured airways. He coughed painfully, hacking, gasping almost gagging, as he barely managed to put the – hopefully only – unconscious civilian down on the ground before he bent over to cough even harder. Between hastily drawn-in and gagged-out bouts of air, he tried to call for the paramedics. It didn't really work.

Then again, he needn't have bothered. They came running the moment they saw him emerge with the man draped across his shoulder. Two of them immediately took care of the blue-skinned man, while one knelt next to Endeavor himself. Speaking to him, asking questions he could hardly comprehend, never mind grace with an answer between his coughing. He just gestured toward the house, that was still burning, trying to insinuate that he had to get back in since it was still burning. But the paramedic either didn't or didn't want to understand.

"Endeavor!" Avalanche ran up to him. He looked disheveled and sweating from hard work. It had been more than three hours ago that Endeavor had arrived at the scene. The sky was already darkening for the night. "Stop it. You've inhaled too much smoke."

He hardly even found enough air to answer.

"If you go back in, you won't come out again." The paramedic seemed to agree, because he prevented every attempt of Endeavor to stand up and go back into the building with a decisive hand on his back, holding him down.

"Let me at least look at you," the paramedic demanded.

Endeavor relented reluctantly. "What's go-going on up there?" Endeavor demanded to know as soon as he had his coughing under control, looking up at Avalanche. "My comm died… thirty minutes ago." His throat hurt with every word he pressed out. The sensible technology in his earpiece had just sputtered out in the heat.

"We could stop the fire from spreading, now we're trying to put out all the fires still burning in the lower stories." Through his own teary eyes, Endeavor could see sweat glistening on Avalanche's forehead. There was grey and black soot on his light blue fur jacket and platinum blonde hair. His pale skin too was smeared with it. Endeavor knew he himself had to look even worse. "I need to get back," the 31-year-old sidekick ended his explanation, wiping sweat from his forehead, drinking from the water bottle that Endeavor only now saw in his hand and looking up at the house. "With firefighters and more heroes arriving on the scene, we're taking shifts."

Endeavor nodded. As Avalanche hurried back to his work, he glanced at the paramedic who had taken his vital signs in the meantime. He asked him to open his mouth, just as Avalanche rejoined the firefighting.

"How do you feel?"

"Fine," Endeavor answered hoarsely. The medic looked at him doubtfully. "Eyes sting and my throat feels parched. But I feel clear in the head." For the most part at least. He did have a bit of a headache, though he wasn't sure if that was from the smoke or the constant racket of sirens and people.

"Okay, I need you to get yourself checked over as soon as you can get away from here."

With that, he was free to get back into the building. However, the blue-skinned man would be the last person he saved. It seemed the people on the third floor could mostly be evacuated in time. He found one more unrecognizable corpse, but by then, he gave up and rejoined the medics. The fire was finally out now, and the job of the heroes was done — leaving the scene for the firefighters and police to investigate and the injured to be handled by the many doctors and paramedics on scene.

A doctor checked him, Avalanche, and Shrinking Girl over shortly, then requested that they all join the next ambulance to the closest hospital for a more thorough check. Endeavor didn't complain. Only when the ambulance stopped, and he helped the paramedics and their patient – an unconscious young girl – out of the vehicle to be greeted by a bunch of nurses and emergency doctors, did he realize they had brought him to the Grand Musutafu Hospital.

* * *

I hope you liked this one! It's a bit of necessary action to get Endeavor's hero work back on track. I really feel like he has to do some shit. What do you think the public reaction will be to his work?

Also this week, let's meet another sidekick! This one is the 3rd of the 4 we met so far. And it will probably remain the only four I intend to really use in this fic. There are more, but I felt like juggling four sidekicks is enough:

Shuuhei Ichika,

Heroname: Shrinking Girl

Quirk: Shrinkabody: Opposite to Mt. Lady's quirk her quirk allows Ichika to shrink her body. Ichika's powers are a bit more flexible, as she can decide to which size she wants to shrink: everything between an Ant's size and her own natural height. However, her body strength and weight also shrinks (though not quite proportionally to her body size.) She can also just shrink individual body parts.

Design: Shrinking girl has long blonde hair that during work she wears in softly curling pigtails. She has rather pale skin and brown eyes. She is only of an medium height for a japanese woman but built rather sturdily and strong. As a hero her costume is made mostly from her own hair (similar to Lemillion) so it can shrink with her. She wears a tight whole bodysuit in different shades of green and black boots and gloves that are infused with metal-wiring. It's a very thought out technology, as the metal in her suit can't shrink with her, so she uses just the tiniest, thinnest metal wiring, that when the cloth holding the wiring together, that is made of her own hair, shrinks, will pull the metal tight so that in her smaller forms it's compact enough to build solid armor around her. She wears a helmet that covers her head and most of her face, and she can with a press of a button engulf her entire face with the mask, including a breathing mask that can also filer out possible poisons and can easily be hooked to an oxygen tank. Since she specializes in rescue that way she can ensure that there is hardly any place (underwater, or engulfed by poison or difficult to reach through very small pathways) that she cannot reach.

Character: Shrinking Girl is 18 years old and she just graduated from Shiketsu High last year. She interned for Endeavor during her third year and started working for him as a sidekick right after her graduation. She's a very upbeat person, who makes a lot of friends wherever she goes. She's also a bit too chatty, so you wouldn't want to entrust her with your secrets, but if you just need somebody to talk about fun stuff, she's the person for you. There are a lot of things she doesn't particularly like or turns her nose up at, but she won't use it against you, if you like it. If you do something she deems wrong (even very unimportant stuff) she's the kind of person who will argue against you with a passion to the point, that by the next time you meet, you may worry, if you can even still be friends, after that fight... She however, may have already forgotten all about it.

Next week, (if i can manage to finish the chapter by then) you'll meet the last of the four sidekicks, Brazen.


	30. Behind Closed Doors

Hello there

there is a bit of a milestone to celebrate. Originally this story was meant to just be about 15 chapters long. Well, we are long past that point. Then, my second draft saw around 30 chapters. Now, we have reached that... I guess, it's a bit of a milestone... however, you could also see it as a negative I assume, - me not following my plans :D My current plan wants to finish this story within 50 chapters now, though I kind of feel, like that may not work out so well, either. Don't worry, it's not like I don't see the end to the story, it's just that while writing over time a lot more problems appeared than I had originally expected. The plot itself is not that much different, neither is the end I'm working towards, but in between it just got a lot more complicated. I still have my end in sight, and I do think we did in fact now get past the 50 % mark.

Another milestone I actually reached LAST chapter was my first 100.000 words in this story. It's not the first time I write so many words in one project, but it IS the first time, that I write 100.000+ words in an ongoing story without a significant time skip or jump in the story. In fact, this whole story so far took place within just over a month of in-story time.

There's another milestone I just remembered. Last week, marks me working on and uploading this story for a whole year!

Thank you all for going on this journey with me!  
I want to give special thanks to my Beta reader Itsgettinghotinhere who took over after Chapter 15 and has been very reliable ever since! I couldn't be happier!

And secondly, I want to also give a special thank you to all my reviewers, who always motivate me to write a little more, and are the easiest way for me to get out of just about any writer's block I might suffer at the moment. At this point, I just want to give special mentions to fencer29 for his constant support pretty much since I updated Chapter 1!

* * *

 **Behind Closed Doors**

As he seemed mostly fine, they had only sent a nurse to check his and his sidekick's vital signs and took a sample of their blood before they left them in a hero waiting room. While normally as a hero he could ask for preferential treatment, he was in no hurry to get back out again. His job for the day was over and he had no problem waiting until the patients with more severe injuries were treated.

It was already dark outside and late in the evening when a nurse asked him to follow her into another room. He sat on the uncomfortable cot with the leather cover for another fifteen minutes. Then finally a young woman with a white doctor's coat and a clipboard in one arm entered. She had a rather plain look about her, apart from the bright purple eyes.

His treatment didn't last longer than ten minutes.

"Okay, Endeavor-san," she ended, frowning down at her clipboard. "You have a minor smoke poisoning. We would like to keep you here over the night for further observation." She glanced outside the window, then her purple eyes wandered back to his face as if waiting for a reply.

"Sure," Endeavor shrugged. He didn't intend to go back out again, and while normally he might want to get out of hospitals as fast as humanly possible, it wasn't like there was anything waiting for him at home, anymore.

"Perfect!" She brightened up visibly, as if she had expected him to reject her offer. "Then I will tell the staff to prepare a room for you." She was out of the room again so fast, Endeavor hardly had a chance to ask anything else.

After another thirty minutes, a nurse came in to lead him to his room for the night. It was her he asked about his sidekicks. She didn't know the answer, but another hour later he got the information that they were fine. Avalanche had been released right away, and Shrinking Girl had a second degree burn on her hand that was taken care of. But she too was already released from hospital care.

He was about to settle in for the night, when his phone rang.

"What is it, Inari?" he asked mildly frustrated that the man wouldn't let him sleep.

"Good evening to you too, sir," the secretary greeted with fake cheer.

It took some banter, until Endeavor too wished his secretary a good evening and the man finally informed him what was the matter.

"We finally have all your financial records regarding the Agency together. With the details you and Nakamura already provided, we now have everything you asked for."

For a moment Endeavor was confused about what he was talking about. Then he remembered: The divorce. He didn't really look forward to dealing with that now, but what had to be done…

"You're still in the office?" he wondered, if only to minutely distract himself from the issue at hand.

"No, I went home at 6 pm as always. I-," there was a short break now as Inari's voice suddenly sounded distracted, then Endeavor could hear him talk with somebody on his end of the line. "Just a minute, darling… yeah I know…" He could hear a woman's voice but couldn't make out her words. "Anyway," Inari turned back to the conversation with Endeavor and his voice immediately cleared up as he spoke directly into the microphone. "I couldn't really call you when you were in that burning building, but I have all the records here, so…"

"Can you bring them over tomorrow morning? I must spend the night in the Musutafu Grand Hospital. I assume I'll be here for most of the morning tomorrow." It always took a while for the doctors to do the final examination and release him. He had quite a bit of experience with that now.

"Then see you tomorrow."

Although he didn't particularly like hospitals and his throat still felt sore and scratchy, he slept surprisingly well that night. As it had still been considerably early when he had fallen asleep, he woke up early in the morning. Outside, he could hear some nurses and doctors who had the early shift rush over the floors every now and then — while he was still waiting for breakfast, his examination and hopefully his release.

The clock informed him that it was still only 5 in the morning. On a normal workday, he would probably already be on his way to the agency at that time, if not already there, but now he considered going back to sleep for another two hours. By now, he had stayed in hospitals often enough to know that his breakfast would probably not arrive before seven, and the doctors for his exam only after that.

In the end, he decided against sleeping some more, as he already felt thoroughly awake and he wasn't the type to sleep away his hours. However, since there was hardly anything else to do, he simply sat on his bed with a glass of water, turning on the TV.

He watched the last few minutes of a crime series, piecing together the case from what he could gather in those minutes as they already captured the killer, then he watched the first 20 minutes of the sappiest romantic comedy he had ever seen. He never watched these sorts of shows unless Fuyumi had them running on the TV when he entered the room. This one seemed truly bad, but he didn't know if that was just the nature of the genre or this one in particular. He assumed it was just this one, and that might be the reason they set it at such an early hour when nobody was watching anyway. He couldn't bear to watch for more than those first 20 minutes though. So, a few minutes before six o'clock hit, he switched through the channels to find a halfway serious news outlet.

The Japanese Prime Minister had left for his visit in South America, just arriving in Brazil the other day.

A big French industry for quirk-related security equipment had to declare bankruptcy leading to unforeseeable consequences to the Japanese sister-company.

In Hokkaido, the police had raided a villain hideout and confiscated over 100 dosages of Trigger — the quirk enhancing drug.

And the fire in Musutafu. The news showed live footage from the scene, where the fire apartment was still working and clean-up had just barely started. Enji wasn't surprised that they had to work through the whole night. He wouldn't even be surprised if they were still working at the scene by the end of the week. Never mind how long it would take to find out what exactly had happened to cause the catastrophe. Still, it was always a sobering scene to see the people who cleaned up after the heroes had long left the scene. He knew that in Fukuoka, where he had fought the Noumu over a month ago, teams were still trying to assess the damage and a big part of the city was still closed off because of the uncertain structural integrity of the buildings they had damaged during the fight.

"So far eight deaths could be confirmed, most of which were found on the third and fourth floors of the Uzushi Tower where the fire started," a voiceover explained while they still showed the footage from the clean-up work at the sight. "The authorities have not yet been able to confirm the cause of the fire, but it seems some sort of explosion at the east side of the building caused the fire to spread very fast."

"Is there any indication that the fire was deliberate?" asked the anchorman, who was not on the screen. The picture switched to a man standing in front of a fire truck. To the side, behind the truck, Enji could see just an edge of the burned building.

"At the moment," the man said, "neither the fire department nor the police have made any indication of that. But of course, so early in the investigation, they are not disregarding the possibility." It was the same voice of the voiceover just a few minutes earlier.

"So, I guess we have to wait for more information on that front."

The man on screen waited a second after the anchorman had already said his piece.

"Yes, it is perfectly normal for the investigators to need a few hours, if not days, before they can come up with their first theories. At the moment, they are still dealing with the last seeds of fire still hiding within the building, finding and recovering possible victims, and trying to assess the structural integrity of the building. For a long time, the biggest fear was that the building may collapse."

"Last we heard they seem to think the building is sound for now. Is that your knowledge, too?" the anchorman asked.

"At least they gave the all clear for the first investigators to enter the building," the man answered with a slight shrug, "so it seems, this at least is not their immediate concern."

"Good," the anchorman nodded a few times, shuffling some papers, humming a little as he did. "Mhm… hm, yes, let's talk a little about the rescue operation, shall we?" He finally straightened some of his papers out again.

"Of course," the other man answered. Below they showed his name as Ishiba Yoshihiko.

"Can you run us through the rescue operation of what we know so far?"

As Ishiba started to explain they showed different footage. This one was back during the day. It showed the building in flames, with the fire trucks trying to get the inferno under control. He could see Mt. Lady standing next to the building. Avalanche stood on one of the firetrucks controlling his snow, although hardly any of that was visible on screen. At one time Enji could even see himself break through a window.

"The first emergency call came in at 11:21 AM. It's assumed that by then, the fire had already reached from the third to the fourth floor, although it seemed to be mostly on the east side of the building. The first hero on sight was Mt. Lady who called for support at 11:22. She and Death Arms, who arrived only shortly after her, began the evacuation as none of their quirks was suited to deal with the fire itself. It was only when Backdraft arrived at 11:27 that they started trying to get the flames under control. At that point, they had already spread to the fifth floor and all the way to the west side of the building."

"As you mentioned before, so far, we have eight confirmed deaths," the anchorman reminded the viewers, "despite three heroes on the scene only five minutes after the initial emergency call."

"Yes, of course," Ishiba said, before the anchorman could properly formulate his question. "So far, we can assume, that some of the victims were already injured or might even have died after the initial explosion that started the fire. We also have to keep in mind that of the three heroes on scene so early on, only one specialized in fire-fighting."

"Speaking of fire-fighting," the anchorman continued at once, "at half past 11 Endeavor arrived."

"Yes," Ishiba said. His voice sounded vary, as if he didn't like the direction the conversation was going. Enji himself didn't know what he had done wrong now, but he decided he didn't like the direction either.

"Endeavor famously has the strongest fire quirk of any active hero today. Taking this into consideration, his arrival on scene had surprisingly little influence." Enji frowned at the thinly concealed insult.

"As far as I know, Endeavor's quirk does not allow him to control all the fire around him," Ishiba correctly supplied.

Best Endeavor could do to fight a fire was backburning or trying to use his own flames to suffocate the others, but both were only possible when there were no people still in the building.

"In any case," Ishiba added, "Endeavor added a great service to the fire-fighting by enabling the emergency vehicles to arrive at the scene."

"Something he is already harshly criticized for," the anchorman quickly added.

Enji decided, he didn't like the man. Ishiba seemed like a reasonable person, though.

At that point, the footage shifted again, showing a young man with disheveled dirty blond hair. "Yes, he burned my hand," he said into a microphone. The logo on the mic belonged to a different channel, so they had borrowed footage from different places. "Endeavor, with his flames. He's mad!" He raised his hand to the camera where he had a thin red burn on the palm of his hand.

"He attacked us! Did you see that? Did you get it on video?" That was a girl a bit younger than the man before, the footage this time clearly came from some social media platform. The format of the video made it obvious that it was shot with a cellphone camera. "First he screamed at us! Threatening us he'd burn us, and then we hardly got away in time, before…" the girl was obviously excited with what she had just witnessed, be that Endeavor's rude behavior or the fire itself. She was breathing hard and adrenaline made her speak so fast she was hardly understandable. "He would have shot us through! I mean, we could have died there. Never mind that he comes to fight a fire and the first thing he does is shoot fire at the masses!"

The video changed again, showing another phone camera. Sirens were blaring in the background as the camera focused on the burning building, when suddenly it swirled around to show a tendril of Endeavor's fire shoot past the cameraman. "Woah, did you see that?" somebody, probably the cameraman asked, focusing the camera on the fire that was still hanging in the air in front of him. He bent forward over the flame and into the gap Endeavor had just created, to get a better view with his camera of Endeavor.

"That's Endeavor," somebody else said, but he was a bit further away from the phone, that it was almost drowned out by the sirens. "What the fuck is he doing?"

Somebody else cursed, barely audible.

"Ey careful, it's—", the second voice warned, as the cameraman suddenly scrambled back quickly.

"Ow shit!" the cameraman cursed, "it's coming closer! Hey, move!" As the flame split apart and broadened the gap, the cameraman was shoving backward. The video was shaky, as he pushed past the other onlookers. It wasn't so packed that he needed to use his fists and elbows to get away from the fire, but at some point, he stepped on somebody's toes.

The video ended when a fire truck slowly drove past the cameraman. Then the picture changed again, showing a split screen with Ishiba on the left and the anchorman on the right.

"This was footage from Endeavor using his quirk to get the public to build a passage for the emergency vehicles." The anchorman informed even the last of his viewers that maybe hadn't understood that yet. "Already he is highly criticized for his usage of his quirk against innocent citizens."

Enji was half of a mind to call the channel to inform their incompetent newsanchor, that blocking emergency vehicle was actually an offense which allowed him to use his quirk at his own consideration. Instead, he hoped Ishida – who seemed like a reasonable man – would set things right.

"When Endeavor arrived at the scene, the emergency services en route had not yet made it on the scene because they were blocked by the huge group of onlookers. Especially the fire trucks were needed to combat the fire, and it could even be argued that some deaths, but certainly many injuries could have been prevented, if they had been able to arrive at the scene just a few minutes earlier. Getting them a passageway to reach the Uzushi Tower was of the highest priority. In that sense, Endeavor's judgement can only be recommended." Ishiba sighed silently but visible on screen. "His handling of the situation may have been a bit… rough, but in my eyes — and both the captain of the fire department and Backdraft expressed their concurring opinion on the matter — it was the most important decision he made after his arrival."

"But you yourself called it 'rough' just now," the anchorman argued, "especially considering Endeavor's current standing, should he not have found a different way to handle the situation? Many people seem to think that — while they express their shock at the blockage of the street through onlookers, — Endeavor should have handled the situation differently rather than blasting a group of civilians with his fire."

Ishiba seemed to think about the question for a moment, but then he shook his head. "I'm not inclined to give Endeavor any more leeway than you are, believe me, but his handling of the situation now has little to do with his current standing in society. At the moment, he has to answer to the public for a lot of reasons, but so far it seems like he is going to keep his hero license, and as long as that is the case, as a hero doing his work, he cannot get distracted because he fears something he does may show him in a bad light. I called it 'rough' because that's what it was; it certainly won't help with the reputation he already has, but that doesn't mean he was wrong."

"So, you would commend him for his actions?" The anchorman smiled nicely as he asked the question, but even Enji could see the trap. Thankfully, Ishiba was apparently a smart guy.

"I would commend him for choosing to prioritize the emergency vehicles over storming in and trying to do everything by himself. Especially considering it is Endeavor, the older ones among us may still be able remember a time when that could not be taken for granted. I did mention that I find his handling of the situation a bit rough. My initial assessment is that it is a justified force, but should complaints come forward against him, I fear it is a matter for the experts to decide."

"Thank you for your assessment so far," the news anchor ended the interview swiftly. "Before we let you go, when do you think we might get some concrete information regarding the cause of the fire?"

"At the moment, new information is still trickling in every few minutes. I assume we will have the first idea at around noon, but it can take a while until we have all the details."

"Thank you, Ishiba Yoshihiko for us right from the Uzushi Tower in Musutafu City."

Enji was still annoyed with the man while he read the news in other things such as finances and the weather. He muted the TV when a commercial break started and didn't bother to turn the sound back on when it ended.

Breakfast came and was eaten all too quickly. Hospital portions were ample enough for an ordinary adult, but as soon as the nurse informed him that the doctor wouldn't come see him before eight, he made his way down to the hospital cafeteria to buy two extra sandwiches. He was no ordinary adult, after all. He burned three times as many calories by just lying around.

Inari arrived shortly before his examination to leave him a newspaper and his financial records. Then the doctor gave the all clear, and at around ten, he was finally ready to leave this place again. He wanted to go to Rei before going to work, but then an emergency call came in, so he had to leave at once, taking the financial records with him.

It was only in the early afternoon when he finally made it back to the hospital for one last check-up. This time, he went straight to the psychiatric ward as soon as he was done.

He was still in thought and frustrated with the guy from the news and the public overall for again finding some reason to complain about him, when he suddenly stopped short. There was laughter drifting over to him.

Of course, hearing somebody laugh wasn't entirely unexpected. Even in a psychiatric ward, in a hospital, people could be happy. But… he knew this particular laughter. Fuyumi…

It was only now that he realized: It was Thursday, December 6th and his daughter's 23rd birthday. And he stood here outside his wife's home for the last decade in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. His wife was behind this door, and his daughter too. He stopped short to listen for a moment.

Rei said something, but her voice was always so quiet, it was difficult to understand through the closed door. Then voices began to sing a 'Happy Birthday' song for Fuyumi. It wasn't just Rei. There was Natsuo too. He could hear his voice clearly, a somewhat askew baritone overpowering Rei's voice entirely. Shoto was there too, Enji thought, though it was difficult to place his voice that was a lot quieter than Natsuo's.

"That really wasn't necessary!" Fuyumi said in that squeaky tone, that told everybody that she very much appreciated having her brothers and mother sing to her. "And Mom, you really didn't need to get me… how did you even get this?"

Rei had gotten her a present. That was a surprise to Enji too, since Rei couldn't really leave the hospital for long shopping tours.

"I ordered it off Amazon," Rei answered, giggling a little.

"You have Amazon, mom?"Natsuo wondered, impressed.

"Sure do!" She sounded very proud. There was a short pause and movement behind the door. "Look, I even got my own iPad now."

"That's so great, Mom!" Fuyumi squealed. She sounded even happier for her mother's progress than she had sounded before for the gift. Enji thought he could hear Shoto mutter his consent.

"See, now I can look up the sports festival and watch Shoto."

It sounded as if she was showing the kids a segment from the Festival. Maybe his fight with that Deku-kid, Enji thought. It wasn't the fight with Deku, it turned out.

"Ah, I love watching this Cavalry Battle," she sighed happily. "It's so nice, seeing you with your friends."

"I behaved like a dick back then," Shoto said in a flustered tone. "Really, it's embarrassing."

"No, you were great," Rei insisted.

"Yeah, he got second place," Fuyumi announced proudly. "Just for a second, I thought he might win, but then this other kid showed this crazy move…," she remembered, "I was really shocked when I watched it on TV!"

"Show me!" Natsuo demanded.

"What, you didn't—"

"No, I haven't seen it yet! Come on, I want to see it."

"That's really not necessary," Shoto mumbled.

"Oh, don't be such a kill-sport," Natsuo laughed. There was a low thud, then Fuyumi and Natsuo laughed out loud and Enji could even hear Rei's quiet giggle.

He just stood frozen in the moment. His hand was already on the doorknob, but then he couldn't move it. Couldn't move at all. There was something precious right in front of him and he couldn't turn away from it. He wanted… He wanted so much to be a part of it, but he knew, as soon as he entered the room, this precious thing… it would shatter in a million pieces.

So, he was glued to this spot, petrified in his current state, frozen in time. And then…

"Todoroki-san?"

He whirled around in shock as a female voice brought him out of his trance. The people inside Rei's room were still laughing. They didn't hear her. Only he heard her… because he stood outside that room, he was not a part of… whatever precious thing this was.

"Yes?" he whispered, terrified that just his voice carrying into the other room could break the peace.

"What are you doing here?" It was Tanaka, Rei's psychologist. She stood right in front of him, looking him up and down, then turning her eyes at the door. There was understanding there and Enji was embarrassingly relieved that he didn't have to explain to her what just happened. Finally, she turned to her office.

"If you would follow me…?"

He immediately let go of the doorknob to hurry after her, almost relieved he had found a reason not to enter that sanctuary that was so taboo for him.

"So, what was your reason for coming here today?" she asked as she entered the office.

Enji didn't know what he was doing here. He didn't want to speak to this woman. This wasn't why he had come. And still he followed her quietly and even sat when she offered him a seat. Only when she offered a cup of coffee or tea or just water, he realized what he was doing.

"No, ah… thank you, but I need to get back to work soon. I just came to drop these off." For a moment she seemed almost disappointed, then she looked down at the stack of papers Enji held up. "They are for Rei, but…" He didn't really want to admit that he was too much of a coward to bother her right now.

"If you want, I can give them to her later," she offered without hesitation.

"Oh, that would be great. They are confidential, though, so I trust…"

"I will not look at them," she promised before he had even finished his sentence, looking insulted that he might even imply that she may read the documents or even sell their contents off.

Truth be told, Enji hardly even cared at the moment, so he just took her at her word without second guessing himself, putting the papers on her desk and jumping from his seat as if he couldn't wait to be rid of this place.

"One second, Todoroki-san," she stopped him before he could bolt out of the room with the same sudden energy. Enji paused, mildly irritated at that. Tanaka was rummaging around in her desk, then she held out a tiny little card to him.

He took it more out of surprise rather than because he really wanted her business card. He looked at it, confused.

"If you ever need somebody to talk," she started, "I think you could benefit—"

"Thanks," he cut her off gruffly, feeling irritated rather than thankful. Still he shoved the business card into his pants pocket instead of giving it right back to her. That would just make her argue even more, and he didn't really feel up to that conversation. He would just dump the card in the trash later.

Because, why would he need a psychiatrist? It's not like she could help him get a better relationship with his family… Well, this particular psychiatrist could maybe do just that, but she'd have to step out of her job description for that.

He was the number one hero for gods' sake. He might be a pathetic excuse for a number one hero at the moment, but that was still what he was! Did All Might need a Psychiatrist? That fool with his stupid smiles and motivational speeches and holier than thou attitude and complete self-assuredness that everything would turn out alright just because 'he was there'?

Never mind when would he even find time for it?

* * *

So, what did you think? I hope you liked it and I have to admit, this scene was inspired by the Manga. You will also see in the next chapter, that I will (partly at least) use another event from the manga, that I haven't brought up so far.

I also want to talk a bit about chapter length: I actually always aim to reach around 3000 words per chapter. Sometimes it doesn't quite work out. Currently, quite a few chapters completely obliterated the 3000 words-mark, and had more like 5000 or even 6000+ words. So I just wanted to warn you, to not get used to it. The next two chapters will be much shorter, and then I hope to get back to my 3000 words aim. But, I'd like to know, if you have a preferred chapter length. Like I know with more than 3000 words I myself - when I read - may get a bit frustrated.

Anyway, there is a third ... and actually a fourth issue to discuss.(And since there is so much to say here already, I fear we're not going to get the character description for Brazen today, that I had promised last week. (There will be a Brazen focused chapter in a few weeks, I might write his characterization with that chapter.))

So, I don't know if you realized it, but I think I messed up the timeline a little. I think I put the Endeavor vs. High End Nomu fight too early in the year. Like I put it around late October, early November, but I feel like in Canon it may have happened shortly after that. I'm not entirely sure to be honest, as Horikoshi never gives us clear dates in the Manga, but... Why is this important? Well, I've mentioned earlier that I will move away from the Manga and that I will not let things that happen in the manga now influence the story overall... However, there were some aspects of the Manga that I did want to bring in. An example would be the Joint Training Arc which did happen in the background of this story (while Enji was in the hospital) as well as Bakugou and Shoto getting their licenses a few chapters ago. So, Shoto and Bakugou got their licenses the same way they did in the Manga. However, since I believe I botched up the timeline a little, don't be confused when things that (in the manga) should happen like... right after the High-End-Fight, now happen a little later. So there is a bit of a gap between the High-End fight and much of the stuff that I want to include from the manga that happens later on. Even if maybe in the Manga they seem to happen at around the same time or shortly after one another.

Another thing I messed up was apparently Geography. Because Horikoshi is just as vague with his places as he is with his timeline. Many events in the manga we don't actually know where they are, many hero agencies we don't really know where they are... and so on and so forth. When I started writing this story, I read that Musutafu was a fictional city somewhere close to Tokyo... So I initially put it next Yokohama. Now, with Endeavor going back to his job, I find that it is much more difficult to be vague in my geography than I had hoped. So... I now essentially just randomly decided where certain places and agencies in the manga are, how Musutafu looks, that for example, Aldera is a part of the city in the northwest et cetera et cetera... Part of my new reconstruction of the geography of MHA, is that I found out, that Musutafu is apparently not near Tokyo but near Shizuoka, so about 100 km further north, then I first thought. So, maybe, if I hadn't said it here, you wouldn't have realized that I just moved the City of Musutafu quite a bit away from Yokohama... but I thought that in case you still remembered the wild goose chase after Natsuo's kidnapping, where I put Musutafu between Yokohama and Tokyo, I'm just going to be upfront with you... So yeah... maybe when I'm all finished with this story, I will try to amend these mistakes.

As for now, next week as I mentioned it will be a short chapter, but I intend to explain to you the new geography of where Musutafu is, how it looks and where the other heroes are at.


	31. Not At Home

First things first: There will be a new Chapter for 'I'm Watching!' sometime soon. I think I should be able to upload it within the next week, but no promises. This one be about Shoto and Midoriya after Endeavor's visit to UA in Chapter 28 "Flashfire". Thank you to all of you who have asked for this or something in this direction. I hope it will be satisfactory!

Other things in my life... I've spent the last days starting to watch Vinland Saga. And... oh boy... as soon as I'm done with that, I hope I can find some good Fanfiction.

Onwards to the chapter!

* * *

 **Not At Home**

He had decided to visit Fuyumi in the evening. If she didn't want to see or talk to him, fine. Then at least he could drop off the present. Did she even want something from him? With how angry she still was with him, he doubted it. It was frustrating because the reason she was so angry was still out of his control. He couldn't just lie about Touya, not to her or her mother. Neither could he prove to her that her brother was alive and a villain. Short of Touya coming out of hiding, he couldn't imagine what would make Fuyumi change her mind at this point. Even Natsuo telling the truth might not be enough, he feared.

And getting Touya… Dabi out of hiding, was… The League hadn't shown their faces in a long time. While he was still wallowing away after being released from the hospital weeks ago, they had been sighted a few times, far enough away that Enji hadn't even bothered getting into gear to look for them, because by the time he'd arrive there, they could have already escaped to the other side of the country.

Surely, they must be planning something to stay hidden for that long, but Enji couldn't fathom what it was. He was sure to dread it though.

So, maybe Fuyumi didn't want anything from him. That's why he hadn't even bothered with finding her an expensive present she wouldn't value anyway. He knew he couldn't buy her love back. If it was that easy, he might have just bought her a new car and that would be it. Nothing so easy.

Instead, he had found an old photograph. Hearing them this afternoon in the hospital had reminded him of a time when they had been happy before. All of them together. Not him… never him, because back then he didn't have time for family happiness, and now he had apparently lost it forever. But them. They had been happy. At least he thought so.

How long was it ago? Twelve years? Thirteen even? It had been before Shoto had developed his quirk. Enji had already all but dropped Touya from his training routine, because his quirk just wasn't what Enji had hoped for. It had just been too self-destructive. So, Endeavor had spent most of his days at work. The nights too, often enough. It had given his family time for each other. There had been this one autumn, when they had visited the island Yakushima with Rei's younger sister and her family. They had gone camping there, hiking and swimming. Fuyumi had always cherished that memory, Enji knew. She had been ten years old back then, and for years after, she had always talked about going back there or visiting her Auntie again.

When she had moved out, Enji had been surprised that she hadn't taken the pictures with her, instead they had remained on the small commode in the living room. She hadn't taken anything from the house that wasn't strictly hers, but that had still surprised him. So, he'd just give it to her, and hoped that it would make her happy.

He rang the apartment she knew she lived in, because he had sent her letters there two weeks ago. A girl opened the door. He had never seen her before, and for a moment he simply stared at her. Not because he didn't know that she lived with somebody else. He knew she had to housemates, but this girl. It was hardly half past nine and she was already in her pajamas, a sleeping mask over her forehead and her hair bound up into small black pigtails.

Enji knew he was a little late. He came straight from work, but still… Who went to sleep at half past nine, especially when there was a birthday to be celebrated? Sure, the big party would only come tomorrow, but still…

Well, if he was honest, he didn't know the first thing about celebrating birthdays. He had 46 of those himself and four children aged 15 to 23, but he couldn't remember the last time he had celebrated anybody's… Or maybe when Shrinking Girl had brought cookies to work last August for Brazen's birthday?

The girl looked at him, as if he had just awakened her. Girl… or maybe woman? Now that he got used to her ridiculously fluffy and colorful pajamas and pigtails, he thought she might be around Fuyumi's age.

"Yeah?" she asked after a moment, obviously annoyed that he hadn't spoken yet.

"Eh, is Fuyumi here?" He asked peering past her into the apartment, but he really couldn't see anything other than a slightly untidy corridor. That really didn't fit Fuyumi, he thought.

"Fuyumi?" the woman repeated confused. She blinked slowly, then she took a double take. "Oh, god, you're Endeavor!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Damn… Wow, I didn't even recognize you out of costume. The fire really makes a difference! Eh!" She turned around looking into the apartment. "Oi, Aisuke, guess who's here?"

"What up?" a male voice yelled through the apartment.

"Endeavor is standing in front of our door!" She yelled back.

"Haah?" he didn't seem to understand. "Wait, I just need to finish this!"

The woman turned back to Enji rolling her eyes. "Whatever, he's not gonna come until he's finished that stupid game or his friends have to go. Anyway, Fuyumi doesn't live here anymore."

"What?" he asked confused. He was pretty sure he was at the right address. Wait… "She moved out?" When? Two weeks ago, he was sure she still lived here.

"I don't know, a week ago. Last Tuesday. She moved to live with Azumi." She explained with a shrug as if that was old news.

"Who is Azumi?" Enji asked irritated with her attitude.

"You don't…?" She suddenly stopped short. Her mouth opened a little in surprise. "Damn, you really didn't know she moved out, huh? Ouch." She ducked her head a little as if it actually physically hurt her. At the look of honest sympathy on her face he felt a tiny bit less irritated with her. Given his current standing in the public, this whole disaster could have gone a lot worse, he guessed. At least she didn't unnecessarily milk this moment of his shame. And ashamed he was! What father didn't know the address where his only daughter lived?

"If you want, I can give you the address," she offered and, in that moment, Enji went from mildly irritated to almost willing to kiss her.

"Thanks!" He didn't even hesitate to take the offer.

"Just a second," she went inside for a moment and after a minute she came back with a small post-it-note where she had written the address. Her handwriting was so neat, for a second he admired the clear strokes of her pen.

"Thanks," he said again.

"No problem," she was quick to dismiss, and Enji got the feeling she now wanted to be rid of him and get on with her sleep. "But the party is only tomorrow, you know?" she added after a short hesitation.

"You'll be at the party?" Enji asked back.

"Only a little while, but sure." She shrugged. "Anyway, I really need to get back to sleep. I have classes tomorrow."

Was she a teacher like Fuyumi? Maybe they were colleagues and that was how they met… Or maybe a student at the Musutafu University like Natsuo. Somehow that seemed more likely, Enji decided.

"Sure," Enji said, taking one last look at the new address he had to get to now. "And thanks again." He was about to step back, so she could close the door without risking breaking his nose, when his phone pinged. He pulled it out and glanced at it. Just two words jumped to his attention immediately. 'Alarm', and 'Emergency'.

So, this would not be the quiet night he had hoped for.

"Actually," he spoke up again, holding a hand against the door, before the woman could close it. She looked a little surprised and annoyed at that. "Could you maybe give this to her tomorrow?"

He held up the wrapped present. She looked completely stunned for a moment. Then she took it, a bit flustered. The way she looked, he was sure, had he not just surprised her like this, she would have declined. This way, she was simply too stunned to do anything but accept.

"Eh, sure," she nodded confused. "Do you want me to say something?"

"No," he shook his head, "just say it's from me…" he hesitated shortly, "or actually, don't say anything. That's probably best."

She raised her eyebrows a little as she looked down at the dark blue gift wrapping, but before she could say anything else, he had already turned away and called Silent Tracker back. She had the nightshift today, and it was also her who had sent the message.

"What is this with Best Jeanist?" he asked, climbing back into his car and instructing a surprised Matsuura to drive him to Best Jeanist's home address in Tokyo.

"We don't know yet," Silent Tracker answered, not bothered at all by Endeavor's lack of a friendly greeting. "The alarms went off last night. They were quickly disabled again, but when one of his sidekicks went to get some signatures from him, he wasn't there and there were signs of an altercation at his house."

"We don't know where he's at?" Endeavor repeated frustrated. "Damn, he was supposed to get back into the field next week."

"Yeah, he was. And now, he's gone. I'm currently at his agency to talk to his sidekicks, but I'd like to go to his house as soon as possible."

"Of course, I'll be there in two hours. Don't wait for me." He was for once glad it was so late. Getting from Musutafu to Tokyo in the middle of the day would have been a traffic nightmare.

"Didn't intend to, boss," he heard her respond before he ended the call.

* * *

So, Fuyumi... acting a bit dickish...? Tbh. this is my fault, not Fuyumi's it was just too soon for those two to meet again, quite yet. But this will still be a step forward. I hope, that later on I can reveal Fuyumi's motivation and what's going on with her in a few 'I'm Watching!' chapters. Because there WILL BE Fuyumi chapters, even if she didn't get any yet.

Also, let's get a few other pro-heroes back into the story. Endeavor is not the only one after all.

So, I mentioned last chapter that I want to reveal a little bit about the geographics now, as well as how the City of Musutafu looks, so maybe in future chapters me and you and all of us will have it a bit easier to orientate ourselves in this place:  
I decided that Musutafu is a fictional city in a fictional prefecture that is close to Mt. Fuji between the prefectures Shizuoka, Yamanashi and Kanagawa.

Musutafu City itself is abit to the southeast of Mt. Fuji with the coast in the east and southeast of the city and a more mountainous region in the west. It's about an hour away from Yokohama and 1.5 hours from Tokyo in the north, and about 30 minutes from Shizuoka in the south.

I've decided to seperate Musutafu into 7 different city districts:  
1\. Musutafu Central,  
2\. Tyton  
3\. Nabu  
4\. Nasadaa  
5\. Dagobah  
6\. Tatooin  
7\. Aldera

I won't have enough space to talk about all of them in this outher's note, so let's just start with the first 4.

1\. Musutafu Center:  
It's a business hub with a lot of shops, shopping districts, gastronomies, and many different companies settled here. Even in the dark of night the streets are never completely empty. This is where money changes pockets and bank accounts fast. Many rich banks, insurances or other financial services are based here. The architecture is dominated by modern high rises with only a few small parks and areas for recreational activities littered throughout. This also means that it's quite lucrative for villains. The more 'big shot' villains who want to make big money robbing banks or rich companies can be found here. Of course this is also where many heroes have their agency. The Endeavor Hero Agency with its 36 stories is not just the most impressive and biggest hero agency in all of japan but somewhat dominates the area in Musutafu Central. Other heroes who have their much smaller Agencies here are Slidin' Go, and Backdraft who has his agency right with the Fire Department.  
Until recently, both Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady also had their agencies here. They still return every now and then.

2\. Tyton:  
Tyton is the westermost district, where the city makes way for the more mountainous and foresty areas. This is were UA is located. It is seperated from the rest of the city by the main street crossing straight through Tyton. While years in the past the area around UA was more rural now the city of Musutafu slowly creeps up the hills. There are new apartment buildings springing up everywhere and a lot of construction sights, where new residential neighborhoods or shops and superarkets are built.

3\. Nabu  
Nabu is in the southwest of the city. It borders Musutafu Center in the north, and Tyton in the northwest. Nabu is the rich neighborhood. There are parks, municipality gardens, Pools, gyms, a lot of space for recreational acivity. This is were the most luxurious apartment buildings and single-family houses are. The properties are comparatively huge, and there are even some mansions here. There are luxurious and expensive shops, small boutiques and high-class restaurants. Towards the west again it gets a bit hillier and the nature slowly takes over with forests and great meadows. In the east there is the Nabu River which seperates Nabu from the next district. At weekends people sometimes start from here to go hiking into the forests and hills. The crime rate is very low even though some burglars try their luck every now and then.  
This is were the Todoroki Abode is.

4\. Nasadaa:  
Nasadaa is in the southeast on the other side of the Nabu River. The most prominent part about it is the big shopping district in the north towards the center. This is where two big shopping malls are right next to each other and most of the people of Musutafu go to to do their shopping. However towards the coast there is quite a bit of industry. Over the years the industry settled here has polluted the coast and the surrounding neighborhood of Nasadaa, which is the reason that the apartment complexes and residential neighborhoods here are the cheapest in all of Musutafu. Opposite to the rich area of Nabu, on the other side of the River there ist the poorest area of Musutafu. This is also why Nasadaa has the wort crime rates in all of Musutafu. Over all crime in Musutafu is not that bad, due to UA and hero presence, but in Nasadaa it's comparatively bad. There is quite a bit of petty crime, drug crime and gang crime, even some violent crime.


	32. The Disappearance Of The Number Three

Look forward to another chapter update of "I'm Watching!" later today!

* * *

 **The Disappearance Of The Number Three**

Just over an half hours later, he arrived in Tokyo at the home of Tsunagu Hakamata, who was known as the Fiber Hero: Best Jeanist in most of Japan. He lived on the fourth floor of a rather luxurious apartment building right in the center of the capital. It was just a short ride away from Best Jeanist's Agency, the Genius Office which they had passed on their way here. As Matsuura had raced past it, Endeavor had noted the lights were still on in the upper floors.

As he stepped out of the elevator on the fourth floor, he could already see three of Best Jeanist's sidekicks standing outside his office door. The tallest of them was tapping with his foot on the floor impatiently, throwing quick glances at the door every few seconds. It was he who noticed Endeavor first. He had brown hair, slicked back neatly with more gel than even Best Jeanist himself used. Jeanist's sidekicks were always annoyingly accurate. Years ago, when the younger hero had first started his own agency, it had bugged Endeavor the wrong way that the man seemed to spend more time refining his sidekicks' appearance rather than actually fighting crime. It wasn't that he thought Best Jeanist incapable, far from it, the man had quickly proven to be one of the strongest heroes out there deserving of his current Number 3 position, even if he hadn't been able to do his work for the last few months thanks to a nasty injury he received against All For One. Still, Endeavor had always valued doing his job more than thinking about how he might look doing it. He'd like to call it a foolhardiness of his past, but if he were honest, his opinion hadn't changed. Even now that he saw the sidekicks waiting outside their employer's apartment, all fancy costumes, and neat hairstyles, he wondered how much more work they could get done, if they spent half the time they surely needed in front of the mirror on their actual job. Especially in times as insecure as these.

Maybe it was due to the fact that just two hours ago, the news had corrected the death toll from the fire in Musutafu to nine, that he was immediately in a bad mood seeing four fully-fledged heroes just standing there doing nothing but wait. It was unfair, he knew. Surely, they had had a workday as tiring as his own, making up for their employer's injury leave, on top of now being worried about his disappearance. Still, they must have cleaned up after work, as none of the street dirt and grime nor the sweat of their own hard work still remained on their bodies. To be fair, it was the same for him, as he had showered after officially ending his workday and had only now changed back into his costume in the car.

"Is Silent Tracker still inside?" he asked, instead of wasting much time with a greeting.

"She's been there for half an hour already," the tall guy answered. Endeavor thought his hero name was 'Ebony Fall' or something like that. He had dark olive skin, shiny black hair and a black cape darker than the night outside. "Does it normally take as long?" He sounded a bit worried, but hid it well under his impatient scowl.

"Depends on how big the area is she has to search. Just give it fifteen more minutes." He shrugged their worry away. "In the meantime, tell me what happened."

In the next few minutes Ebony Fall… – or was it 'Ebony Rock'? – explained what had happened. In the late afternoon, they got an alarm from the apartment that was, however, quickly shut off. The alarm was set to go off whenever somebody would enter the apartment through the door or windows and not type in the correct disabling code within 20 seconds. So at first, Ebony Fall explained, it had simply looked as if Tsunagu had just taken a bit too long to put in the code. It was only when another sidekick had come to bring Tsunagu some papers, preparing for his planned comeback next week, that they had realized the hero was not at home.

Another sidekick – short figure, neat brown locks curling over his shoulders, wearing a shiny sparkling armor of white and gold – started explaining how he had found the apartment. He described it as disorderly and chaotic, as if there had been an altercation, but still oddly intact. That finally gave Endeavor pause. If the number three hero fought back against an attacker, even still injured and recovering as he was, it seemed odd that the building was even still standing. Yet the Sidekick didn't even talk about any bad damages, apart from a few shattered plates and a cracked TV-screen.

They had checked the security footage of the building, but it seemed to have been wiped.

That also explained why they had asked for the help of the Endeavor Hero Agency before involving the police. Due to the odd circumstances, they wanted to consult a fellow hero first. The police were informed already, but they had agreed to let Silent Tracker and Endeavor into the apartment before starting their own investigation.

"Something just seems off," Ebony Fall summarized. "From what Knighthood said," Endeavor assumed that was the hero-name of the armored sidekick, "it sounds a lot like the scene of a civilian kidnapping, not…"

Endeavor didn't need him to explain any further. It was thinkable that a hero could be surprised and unable to properly defend himself, but it seemed unlikely. He didn't get to formulate his own thoughts though, as in that moment the apartment door opened.

Silent Tracker was still fumbling with her clothes. She hadn't put on her hood yet and looked was still fumbling with her belt, checking that all the little pouches attached to it, where she kept her support items, were correctly aligned for her to reach them. Her curly hair looked more ruffled after her transformation as it always did. As she hadn't pulled on her hood yet, she was only wearing a tank top and no shoes. Knighthood blushed a little at her state of undress, while Endeavor hardly even recognized it anymore. He had worked with her for long enough. Sometimes when the situation demanded that she turned back fast, he'd even see her almost naked. She didn't seem to care anyway.

"What did you find out?" Endeavor asked gruffly, as Knighthood turned away with a slight blush, using his long brown hair almost like a veil between himself and Silent Tracker.

"It's odd," she simply answered, opening the door so Endeavor could get his first real view of the inside. It seemed Knighthood's description was rather fitting. "I used my dog and rat form, to not miss anything," Silent Tracker started as she moved aside to let Endeavor and the other heroes inside. "Don't go too far in, and try not to touch anything for the police later." Her warning was mostly meant for the sidekicks who now moved inside behind Endeavor. Some of them hadn't seen the apartment yet either, Endeavor realized at the sound of their worried gasps.

Endeavor looked around. It was as if a storm had gone through the apartment. They had entered into a spacious open living area, with a grand window front on the other side giving a nice view on the surrounding area, and when he turned to look further down the street, of the Tokyo Tower a bit further away.

The windows were still intact, but beyond that, it was pure chaos. Chairs and a sofa were overturned, a coffee-table had been roughly shoved to the side, the carpet was partly turned over, and the TV had fallen from the wall and cracked on impact. A plant pot had fallen from a commode, smashed and spilled its earthy content over the dark parquet. A stack of papers seemed to have fallen off the coffee table and spread all over the floor. A half-filled teacup had smashed against the floor, the liquid leaving a dark stain on the carpet. Someone had ripped the commode open, taking clothes out of it, and throwing them all over the place. It was there that Endeavor saw the first and only hints that Best Jeanist had actually used his quirk. A pair of trousers were half ripped apart, the fiber stretching around it, and another shirt had all but dissolved into thin threads that still hung from the lamp on the ceiling. But that was it. No damage to the couch cushions or the carpet or the window curtains. Even the tablecloth from the coffee-table that had been thrown halfway across the room was undamaged, though spoiled by tiny specs of blood, as far as Endeavor could see from his position without touching anything.

His eyes traveled further to the cooking area where several plates had fallen from the cupboard and shattered on the ground. The fridge had been opened forcefully, and the fruit tray had been ripped out. Apples and oranges had rolled all the way to the bathroom door. Next to the fridge, two pictures had fallen off the wall.

"It's the only room that looks like it," Silent Tracker informed after a second in which she let them take everything in. "The bedroom is in pristine condition. In the bathroom, the box of bandages and medicine are still open, but there is no chaos there. It looks as if Jeanist was just about to take care of his injuries. There's an open and half-dried bottle of ointment."

Endeavor went over to the bathroom door to push it open, but he halted before putting his fingers against the handle. There were red smears there.

"Yes, it's blood," Silent Tracker said, looking at him. "But it's just a little. There are small amounts of blood on the bathroom door handle, the tablecloth and the commode. That's it."

"How much was it?" Ebony Fall asked worried. As Endeavor looked at him he had his hands fisted at his side, staring angrily at the commode as if it was at fault for hurting his boss. "And is it from Jeanist?"

"It smells like it might be his," Silent Tracker nodded. "But it's not much overall. Going just by the amount of blood he lost in this apartment, it could just as well be a sudden nosebleed or a cooking accident." She sighed looking around. "Of course, that doesn't explain the state of the apartment."

"So, what did you find?" Endeavor asked giving the bathroom door a final glare before turning away from it.

"He definitely had a visitor," she started, scratching her head. "I assume from the smell they were male, but it's hard to stay. It must have been hours ago, and he didn't stay for long. His scent hardly lingers and I can't place it. I at least don't know him. As for Best Jeanist, since he lives here, everything smells like him, so it's difficult to say, but I get the feeling he took part in taking apart his apartment."

"Of course," a female sidekick spoke up. "He must have fought back."

"I don't think so," Silent Tracker rejected her argument. "It seems like he took part in creating the chaos, but there does not seem to have been a fight." At the sidekicks' and Endeavor's own doubtful look, she elaborated. "When people fight, they leave a very distinct smell. Sweat, in any case, pheromones… There's hardly anything here. Not enough for a real fight that would explain this chaos."

Endeavor's brows knitted in thought. This whole scene was odd. Knighthood had been right with his initial statement. It looked as if somebody had been attacked, defended himself and then got kidnapped. If he were in the home of a normal civilian, he'd surely expect the police to start an investigation into a kidnapping or even a possible murder. Yet, this was not the apartment of an ordinary civilian. This was the home of the number 3 hero. This made the whole thing make no sense.

The sidekicks seemed to think the same, and even Silent Tracker, who must have spent the better part of an hour searching for clues in this room using her quirk that allowed her to turn into different animals with heightened senses, seemed at her wit's end.

"Then what's this?" Ebony Fall asked, pointing up at where the cotton fiber of a T-Shirt still hung from his ceiling. "He used his quirk if only a little."

Both Silent Tracker and Endeavor looked up at the threat too. She took a while to answer. "To be honest, I don't know," she finally admitted. "It's his quirk, no doubt about that, but…"

"You don't think they fought, anyway," Endeavor finished her sentence as she started to hesitate. Endeavor didn't even see her nod, he was so focused on the fiber spread throughout the room. "It's odd…"

Nobody asked what exactly he meant. They all knew that everything about this situation was odd. "It seems like he opened the commode to use his clothes for a fight, but why didn't he use the tablecloth or the curtains or sofa cushions that were already lying around." He looked at the sidekicks for an explanation that he knew wouldn't come. If Best Jeanist hadn't been as good as he was, he might have believed he was just better at using the less stable fabric of his clothes compared to the more robust carpet or curtains. But Best Jeanist wasn't just any hero, Endeavor knew for a fact he could take sofa cushions apart just as easily as the denim his costume was made of. So why not use them? Surely if he had felt as if he were in danger due to a sudden attack, he would just use whatever weapon was already readily available. Silent Tracker's explanation that there did not seem to have been a fight seemed more and more likely.

"Yeah, never mind that I can't see anybody defeating Jeanist without even destroying the windows…," Ebony Fall muttered still glaring around as if he hated every part of the chaos. "And since he obviously used his quirk for… something, we can also assume that he wasn't just abducted in his sleep."

"No, from what it looks like, I'd assume he was about to take his medicine and rewrap his bandages when… well, when whatever happened, happened." That was Silent Tracker again, scratching her head. "If you asked me… and listen, because I know it will sound ridiculous, but I've spent an hour trying to make sense of all the tracks I could find and…"

She hesitated, looking around as if asking for permission to voice her opinion. As nobody interrupted her, she sighed noisily, shrugged and then explained her theory: "Best Jeanist was in the bathroom, taking care of his wounds when he received a visitor. They didn't fight, but the visitor stayed at least long enough for his scent to still linger until now. So I assume they must have talked. Jeanist might have even offered tea, though it seems like Jeanist ended up drinking alone. Then they…" she hesitated again, "randomly decided to rip the room apart, making it look a lot as if there had been a fight and a violent kidnapping, before they left together."

"If that was the plan, they didn't try very hard," Endeavor muttered. The fact that no fight that Best Jeanist lost could have done so little damage to the surrounding area must be immediately obvious to any hero and police officer worth their salt.

"They tried very hard to rip the room apart, not very hard to make the kidnapping believable," Silent Tracker shrugged. "But what for?"

"Since Best Jeanist is involved and apparently in on this farce, I assume he has a good reason," Endeavor granted, "but Jeanist too must know we wouldn't fall for this… So," he looked around one last time, "the rouse wasn't meant for us or the police. Which only leaves the press." He thought for another moment. "And the public."

"That makes even less sense," Ebony Fall rejected his theory. "Unlike you, Best Jeanist is trying very hard to keep his public image as pristine as possible." Endeavor glared at the sudden attack against him, but he didn't reject it. It was true, after all. For most of his career, he hadn't cared in the least for his reputation, which now came back to haunt him. He couldn't even say if Ebony Fall's comment was meant in a more general way or in response to his current scandal. "Part of that is to make sure the public can feel safe under our protection. Which would be lost if his kidnapping, never mind a fake kidnapping, made the news."

"Yes," Endeavor agreed, "so he must have a very good reason for his actions."

"So what? He wants us to tell the press that he was kidnapped? We don't even know for sure that Silent Tracker is right with her assessment," another sidekick asked, uncertain.

Endeavor expected Silent Tracker to look indignant at the insinuation that she might be wrong, but instead she simply gave a half-shrug-half-nod. She really must not feel very secure in her assessment. Normally she didn't lack self-confidence. Then again, this situation put even him on edge.

"No," Endeavor shook his head. "It's uncommon for heroes to publicize their problems." He shrugged. They all knew what he was talking about. They were perfectly correct. Heroes looked out for their reputation, and part of that was to seem strong and powerful, even when they weren't. When they got injured, the true extent of it was never publicized. When they died, the Hero Association would put legitimate effort into making it seem less gruesome. Of course, the press wouldn't always play along, investigating on their own and making their own theories, but no hero would want knowledge of their kidnapping in the news. "Normally, when something like this happens, we would act as if the hero simply vanished, still leaving the option that he might have just left for vacation on short notice. Or that the investigations are still running." They just would wait for the journalists to do their thing and start interviewing neighbors. The destruction of the apartment must have surely caused some noise, seeing Endeavor in Tokyo at his house would also cause suspicion, and for the police to go in and out of the apartment…

Now, that he thought about more clearly, it made perfect sense. It was ingenious. If that had actually been his plan, he would succeed. He had made sure that neither the heroes nor the police would believe his kidnapping, but his disappearance would surely be called into question by the public very quickly.

That left only three questions: Who was his second conspirator? Why this whole charade? And who was it they really wanted to fool with it? Because Endeavor didn't doubt that it was one specific target that would be reached through the press rather than the public in general. Someone should believe that Best Jeanist had been attacked and kidnapped in his own home… but who?

Endeavor had no doubt that it was to bring down a villain. But what villain would warrant creating such a farce and insecurity within the hero society? At the moment, unless Best Jeanist had suddenly found a new and more dangerous villain, he could currently only think of a single villain, or rather group of villains, who were powerful and dangerous enough to warrant such drastic measures.

Had the League of Villains finally made another move?

* * *

I have to admit that a few chapters ago I started missing "Detective Endeavor" the way I wrote him in the first few episodes with Natsuo's disappearance. It just was so much fun writing him as almost an investigator, not quite just fighting his way through his job but also showing his brains a little, that I wanted to do it again. Originally I hadn't planned to dedicate a whole (albeit short) chapter to Best Jeanist's disappearance, but I really just couldn't help it. How did you like it and how would you react and handle the situation if you were Endeavor?

Also Information of the day:

Continuing from last time there are still a few things about Musutafu's city districts that I have to talk about. So let's talk about it.

Last Chapter we already talked about Musutafu Central, Tyton, Nabu and Nasadaa.

Next up:

5\. Dagobah:

Dagobah is the easternmost district along the coast. In the south it borders Nasadaa and there are still some industries close to Nasadaa. Due to this industry in Nasadaa and the south of Dagobah over the years the beaches in Dagobah were increasingly polluted over the years. This gave Dagobah a bit of a bad reputation as although it has technically the most beautiful beaches, there were never used to their fullest potential - instead, people just dumped their garbage there. (And yes, those are the beaches Midoriya cleaned up in the first few episodes.) This also dragged down the property and apartment prices in the area making it more of a middle to low-income living region. Historically most of the people who were living in the great apartment complexes in this district were working-class employers of the industries close by. Despite it's reputation of a lower-income living area, there is not much crime here, it's relatively safe, and villains aren't really interested in the district. Unlike Nasadaa which over time got more and more riddled with crime, Dagobah is doing quite well in that department. That is also the reason why this area is now quite an attractive living area for young students and adults who can't afford expensive apartments. All this new creative young influence and the now clean beaches help the reputation of this area immensely; it is an "up and coming"-living area... which slowly increases the property and living costs in this area.

This is were Midoriya grew up with his mother. It's also the area Fuyumi moved to when she left her fathers house.

6\. Tatooin:

To the north of Dagobah is Tatooin. It still has a few beaches which although a lot smaller than the beaches in Dagobah had a much better reputation as they were cleaner. There are quite a few vacation homes in this area and also some quite well-off living areas. The people who live here are not quite as filthy rich as the people in Nabu, but they definitely belong to the higher middle-class and upper class. However, unlike Dagobah and Nabu which are both more or less pure living-areas, Tatooin has quite a mix of business and living areas. Much of the business from Musutafu Central has already spilled into Tatooin. Of all the districts apart from Musutafu Central Tatooin feels the most like an actual big city, while the others have often more or a town-feel to it, where you know your neighbors and their neighbors. Because of the many well-off businesses, there is quite some villain activity and white-collar crime here but also a high presence of crime.

Some smaller heroes who can't quite afford an Agency in Musutafu Central are placed here, such as (most prominently) Death Arms. Musutafu Grand Hospital where Rei lives is here. Also, Bakugou grew up here with his family.

7\. Aldera

Aldera is to the west of Tatooin and to the north of Tyton (where UA is). It gets a bit hilly in the north and west of the district with quite a few forests creeping in from the mountains. A bit outside of Aldera is the campus of the Musutafu College where Natsuo lives. Most of this district grew more or less around the College and its needs. There are quite a few nice middle-class living areas and a few college dormitories. It's considered a rather nice area to live in by most people, as it's neither horribly stuck-up and filthy rich nor does it have a high crime rate or villain activity. People who live there range from working class to college professors. The parks are quite nice too, and just in general, it has everything you'd need for a good life, from normal shops, supermarkets, some nice café's, a cinema to a community pool etc. If you live here, you never really need to leave the district because everything you need is right outside your door-step. That's maybe also the reason why the area has quite a nice alure to it, and many people even outside of the area send their kids to school here, because it's nice and safe and education is great. Some say, that it was Aldera's reputation as a good place for education that was the reason one of Japan's first and biggest hero schools was placed here.

This is were both Bakugou and Midoriya went to the Aldera Junior High School.


	33. Joining the Game

I already mentioned a few times, that fitting to the manga format of the original, I would like to broadly structure this story into Arcs. As some of you may have already noticed, the most recent chapter introduced a bit of a new concflict... Or, more exactly, it REINTRODUCED an old conflict. If you haven't realized it now, I used Best Jeanist's disappearance to get the League of Villains back into the plot. So far they've been very quiet in the background, and we're still not ready for a final confrontation betweeen Endeavor and Dabi - not for a long time - but it was about time, to give an update on what they are currently doing. So with this chapter we're about to enter a new arc.

I will probably rename this arc once it is over - but for now let's just call the fourth arc in this story: The Hunt for the Traitor (to give you a little teaser what one of the main issues this arc will be).  
So this is the fourth arc after:  
1\. Natsuo's Kidnapping  
2\. Endeavor's Recovery (or as I tend to call it "Isolation")  
3\. The Most Hated Man of Japan  
4\. The Hunt for the Traitor

As I said, this is just a working title, I will rename it later on, but that would be too spoilery for now. Just to give you a short overview over what to expect in the future. I intend to finish this story within 6 arcs. I assume that this fourth Arc will be the longest of all, just based on all the stuff I need to do in this arc.

As it happens everytime I start a new arc, expect some "setting the pieces" and "finding the tone for the Arc" in the next few chapters - as it already started to happen in the most recent chapter last week.  
In the meantime, I'd like to know which part of the story you liked best so far, so I can somewhat gather what you do like, and what maybe doesn't work as well.

* * *

 **Joining the Game**

As soon as he got home, he started making plans. Best Jeanist got involved with the League. Endeavor didn't know how he did it but he had no doubt that it was in fact the League they were dealing with.

The very thought was exciting. The League had remained mostly calm after their fake kidnapping of Natsuo… another fake kidnapping. This one was different though. Things were happening, pieces were moving, and he realized he hadn't even been invited to play yet. Well, he wouldn't wait for this invitation. He had to step up! Not just as the number one hero, but even more so as a father of one of the villains working for the league.

He hardly slept, as he started making plans. And then he invited all the heroes of Japan to a meeting to thoroughly plan their combined efforts to take down the League. After all, he might want to play this game, but he did not have to play alone. If his battle with the Noumu in Fukuoka had proven something, it was that he did not need to fight alone.

Japan had hundreds of heroes, sidekicks and interns. Never mind that he could not pull all heroes from their duties at the same time, leaving the cities undefended. And where would he even put all of them?

Thankfully, he had a few capable people working at his Agency; some of which solely focused on coordinating team-ups with external heroes. Granted, only two people so far worked in that area, as Endeavor had so far prided himself on having a fairly self-sufficient Agency not needing much help from others. After the Kamino Ward incident, he had upgraded the department from one to two employees. They were too few to stem a task as big as the one he gave them, but he ordered enough of his employees from other sections to help. And they were capable as all his employees. Soon they found the solution.

For Monday the next week, he would invite one hero from every major agency and at least one hero from every prefecture to his agency. They would be tasked to not just inform their sidekicks, but also the smaller hero agencies within their areas. He would open a secure channel solely dedicated to handling any questions that would arise later on. They would keep the meeting time secret from anybody who would not be invited, in hopes this would prevent villains from finding out about it and using the absence of the heroes. Still, even if word got out, because he'd only call in a few heroes from every prefecture, it was unlikely to leave a bad dent in the area's defense. On top of that, he would leave the heroes he invited the freedom to choose somebody to represent them during the meeting, if they felt they couldn't leave their area.

He spent most of Friday coming up with a handpicked list of whom to invite. After patrol, he was tired, and his body was still aching from a fight against somebody whose partner had made it a habit to throw cars at him at the most opportune moments – civilians still inside. He had finally managed to apprehend both, without so much as a single casualty, but his chest and arms were still bruised from that one time when he had to use his own body to cushion the fall of a Mercedes Benz with a family of four inside, the driver flooring the accelerator in unadulterated panic. Still, after that patrol, he sat back in his office to give feedback on the list of names his employees had come up with.

It had gotten late and dark outside, and he had almost forgotten that now Fuyumi's party would take place in her new apartment. He had the address in his phone. He could go… but he felt almost thankful that he had a good excuse not to. Work was important. It was the most important now.

He stopped clicking through that list. He was just thinking about whether to invite Hawks and Mirko from Kyushu, taking two of the strongest heroes away from their duties, when the thought of Fuyumi's birthday made him stop.

His work was more important? Hm? Hadn't that always been his problem?

His head sank into his hands. Gods, he suddenly felt very tired. He had wanted to see Fuyumi yesterday, instead he had to work… couldn't make it and left the present to some girl he didn't know. He didn't even know if she really did as he had asked and gave Fuyumi the present. Would it even make a difference?

Damn, he hadn't even called! What father didn't call their daughter at her own birthday, even if for whatever reason he couldn't manage to visit? He rubbed his temples, where a headache was already blooming.

Was it too late now?

He pulled out his phone, switched it on, stared at the screen for a while, almost disappointed. Then he laughed silently about his own pathetic stupidity. What? Had he hoped she'd call after receiving his present? Or maybe to remind him that he had once again forgotten the birthday of one of his children. He hadn't forgotten of course, but how would she know, if he didn't say anything?

Silently he pulled up her number, stared at it for longer than necessary, waited… He let it ring twice, before his eyes slipped to the clock in the corner of his desktop. It was already long past midnight, past 3 am. She's either still partying with her friends and Shoto and Natsuo, who he was sure would both be there, or she was already in bed and asleep. He'd just wake her up.

He was an idiot! And obviously unable to act like a normal person! Who called somebody at three in the morning even if it was on Saturday morning and the other person didn't have to work that day?

He was about to end the call, cursing himself for not having thought about Fuyumi all day. Work had just been too important again. He took the phone from his ear, when he heard a noise through the speakers.

"Yeah?" Fuyumi sounded tired, sleepy. He must have really woken her up. In fact, she sounded so tired, that she didn't even bother with being angry at him. "What's up?" she asked blearily, "Are you the one… the one who forgot their jacket here?" She asked, yawning mid-sentence. "Just come by tomorrow, it's still here, but the party is over." Was she so tired she hadn't even bothered to look who had called and just assumed it was one of her party guests? It seemed like it.

Endeavor didn't respond, he just listened for a moment. He hadn't heard her speak in a way that wasn't angry and raging for weeks, and he found he quite enjoyed this, even if it only now happened because she wasn't aware who he was.

"Eh? Is somebody even there?" she asked after a momentary pause. "Is this some sort of joke? Wait…" From the sound of her voice she took her phone away from her face for a second, then he heard an exasperated sigh. "Dad." She must have finally looked on the screen who was calling her. "I thought you were somebody else." To his surprise, she still didn't sound mad, just a bit annoyed, tired, and irritated that he had woken her up. "I'm really tired, what do you want?"

Too tired for her grudge, hm? For a second, he considered only calling her in the early morning hours from now on. He could almost pretend they were on speaking terms that way. Of course, that would have been the coward's way.

"I just wanted to say happy birthday," he finally spoke, and he quickly added, "I know I'm over a day late but…" work came up, he had been about to say, but instead his voice drifted into nothing. "I didn't make it, obviously." He ended his sentence after a pause, that was so long it made him cringe internally.

"Obviously," she repeated. Despite the attitude – parroting his last words, she still sounded mostly annoyed and not quite angry, yet.

"Yeah, I wanted to visit yesterday," he felt the sudden urge to defend himself. "but you moved and didn't tell me." If there was an accusation in his voice, he pretended it was just by accident. She heard it anyway. He could hear her breath in heavily.

"Yes, I moved…," the way her voice drifted off at the end, she felt at least a little bad for it. "There was never really an opportunity to tell," she finally said.

"You could have just written a message." Enji rejected her argument. His voice was biting.

"Sorry, but there's really other stuff on my mind, at the moment," she bit back. His words pushed her to the defensive. That wasn't his plan. "You know, you lying to Mom, the journalists at my school, and…"

"Journalists?" he hissed angrily. When had they returned? After his press-conference, they had all but disappeared. After the fire two days ago, they had appeared again, but it had not been to the extent that it would hinder his work. He was sure, right now, there were a handful of journalists and paparazzi waiting just outside his house and keeping an eye on his agency, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. He had naively assumed, if they left him mostly in peace, they would do the same for his children.

"What, did you think your little stunt would last for longer? You, asking them not to bother us… Yeah, seems like they took it as you trying to keep us away from the press." He cursed silently, but she didn't seem to hear it over her own voice. "Anyway, don't worry, nothing happened, I can handle myself." She sounded aggressive now. Not angry, but defiant, as if she was challenging him to argue against it.

He wouldn't.

"I know you can," he conceded. "I just didn't know that they… Anyway, this wasn't why I called. I just wanted to wish you…"

"Yeah, I know, you already did. I'm very tired. Is that all?"

"Did you get my present?" he asked before she could end the call.

"Huh?" she seemed surprised at the question. "I didn't actually…" she seemed to rummage around a little, "open all of them, yet." She sounded embarrassed.

"Your friend was supposed to give it to you for me," he explained, "your former housemate."

"Tomoko?" she asked, half-distracted.

He didn't answer because he realized he hadn't asked for her name. He felt like an idiot all over again.

"It's wrapped in blue paper," he said instead of answering.

"Hm, I don't…," she muttered a little. "Can't we do this tomorrow?"

Enji hesitated. Tomorrow when she wasn't so tired, he had no doubt that they would go right back to throwing insults at each other. But he couldn't tell her of that fear. It was pathetic. Never mind that it might remind her of all the reasons she had to hate him. At the moment he was just enjoying being able to talk to her, even if she was more than just a little annoyed at him and so tired she might not even remember the details of the conversation the next day. "Hm," he muttered undecidedly, "I guess."

"Great, then-," she stopped suddenly. "I think I found it."

Enji immediately perked up. He could hear paper tear on her side of the line. She muttered a little. He could hear her yawn once again.

Then suddenly she quieted.

And remained quiet.

Enji waited, holding his breath for the reaction he hoped or the reaction he feared, or any sort of reaction really. But Fuyumi had gone completely quiet. He wished he was there to see her face and gauge her thoughts. Maybe if he could see her, he could guess what she was thinking and would know if asking what she thought would make her laugh or explode in rage.

"So, what do you think?" he finally dared to ask. She remained quiet for a little longer. "I thought you might like it. You forgot it when you moved out, and I know you always…" He scratched his head, embarrassed. "You always spoke of that vacation. Going back there and stuff… And I wasn't there, so it's not like I have any fond memories of that time, anyway, so I thought you should have it." It wasn't true, of course. Sure, he hadn't been on that vacation, he didn't think fondly back to it the way Fuyumi did. But it was the one picture in the house where his family was happiest. If he looked at it, he could almost pretend…

Of course, it also seemed like a lie. Part of him hated that picture, couldn't even look at it. He knew, whenever a stranger saw it, they'd think he must have taken the picture, as he was the one missing from it. It was a logical conclusion, that it was him standing there with a camera and having his entire family smiling up at him. A logical conclusion, but a lie if he left anybody in that false belief.

And he knew he would not have that strength to set things right and explain.

There were never many visitors in the house; not since Fuyumi had moved out. So, why would it even matter? Nobody would see that picture and believe that lie anymore. Yet, whenever he looked at that picture still, he felt horrible. As if he feared he might start believing it himself.

"I think you left it behind, because it wasn't strictly yours, but…" he stopped as he realized he was rambling. He bit his tongue so hard it hurt a little, let him momentarily forget about the aching pain still lingering in his muscles.

"Yes," she finally said in a hushed tone, "thank you." Finally, he took a deep breath. "I like it."

"I'm glad," he whispered, not trusting his voice beyond that.

"But I'm really tired," she added, after a while.

"I know," he admitted. "I can hear you yawn. I'm sorry for waking you up."

"Hmm," she grumbled tiredly. "Good night, Dad."

"Good night, Fuyumi."

He spent the rest of the morning in his office completing the list of heroes to invite to his meeting. It was important to get this done tonight, so they could quickly invite everybody. Even if he was the number one hero, with his current reputation and surely many heroes disliking him as much as the public did, he wouldn't put it past his fellow heroes to use the short notice as an excuse not to come.

* * *

I felt like the last few chapters had a lot of Fuyumi in it, without actually having any Fuyumi in it... Which is really weird now that I think about it, but I guess I just want to show, how important Fuyumi is to Enji, even if she isn't around. Like, I never make it a secret, that to me, Natsuo is really the most exciting to write of the Todoroki children. He's just so interesting and whenever I write one of those rare scenes with Enji and him interacting it's really some of what I consider my best chapters. However, I really think of all his children and also including his wife, Fuyumi is the single most vitally important character in "saving Enji's soul" so to speak. Which sadly, is also the reason I can't have her in the story and forgiving Endeavor yet.

Also... I finally went and changed the Tags of this story, switching Dabi out and Natsuo in... On FFN I can only tag four characters, so that was a difficult choice... but I feel it's much more accurate to put Natsuo in, instead of Dabi.


	34. All Clear

**All Clear**

He hadn't even realized that he had worked all night until the door to his office opened, and Inari stood there surprised to already see him at work. Endeavor normally made it a point to come to work early and leave late, he _was_ a workaholic after all. But Inari was an early riser, so, in the early morning, disregarding whichever sidekick would have the night shift that day, he would normally be the first to open up the agency, even before Endeavor arrived. It was surely not unheard of that Endeavor would arrive before him, but it was still rare.

Inari looked at him surprised for a moment, then he moved to open one of the windows to let some air in. Enji hadn't even realized how stale the air had become.

"You've been here all night?" he asked, turning back to his boss.

Endeavor shrugged, "I finished the list." He pressed the print button and waited for the printer to spit out the final product. "I'm not sure about inviting Mirko still, the same goes for Edgeshot. I would like to have them here, but I feel uncomfortable pulling so many top heroes off the street." He hesitated for a moment.

With his own quirk related problems, he had no illusions over where he currently stood. Without a doubt, the Lurkers, the team Edgeshot had formed with Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady and their respective sidekicks, was currently the strongest team in Japan. He would feel safer leaving that team mostly intact for the duration of the meeting, when so many other heroes would be away from their duty.

"Well, we need somebody from his team," Inari muttered scanning the list quickly. "Mt. Lady?"

Endeavor looked down at his hand where he could still see the tiny little bruises the woman's nails had left there when he saved her and her family from the fire. "She's still in the area because of that fire."

Yesterday the investigation into that fire had revealed that a quirk was involved in starting it. Since they still didn't know if it was arson, they had requested hero protection during the first stages of the investigation. Mt. Lady had been the first hero at the scene of the fire, so she was an obvious choice for the protection detail, while the rest of her team currently worked in Yokohama.

Inari only needed a few seconds to read and comprehend the entire list of almost 150 names. "I'll get the guys from Hero Coordination working on this," he waved the list shortly in his right hand, then he looked a bit more serious. "On a different matter, I got news from Interrogation."

Endeavor, who was just about to shut down his computer, looked up questioningly. "Did they find anything?"

"No. Today they'll talk to Brazen, he's the last one they didn't get to talk to yet. As for the others…," he shook his head, "nothing. As far as they are concerned, Interrogation all but cleared all five of all suspicions."

Endeavor's brows furrowed in thought. "So, it's either Brazen, or we missed something, or…"

"Or we'll have to look into Hawks' Agency," Inari ended.

Endeavor hummed standing up and moving to the closet behind his desk. "That makes things a lot more difficult. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite happy that there seems to be no leak in my agency…" Truth be told, finding out one of his own colleagues had betrayed him to the League like that might have been the straw to break the camel's back. With everything falling apart around him, the fact that his agency still worked like a well-oiled machine was one of the few things he could find relief in these days. He wouldn't know how to deal with that trust crumbling away, but still… "He's in Fukuoka…"

"Finding a spy on the other side of the country," Inari nodded, understanding his employer's plight. "We might want to consider bringing in a second agency."

"I'd rather not," Endeavor muttered. He needed a plan, but he couldn't risk his suspicions coming out. Every hero he involved was one more possible leak to the public, and the public had lost enough trust into their heroes as it was. To find out the current number one hero suspected the number two or somebody working for the number two, of treason… That wouldn't bode well. Hawks was far more well-liked than him, he had even been more well-liked back before Endeavor had been declared the media's enemy number one. They wouldn't believe him, and he'd lose even more authority… or worse, yet, they _would_ believe him, and Hawks would also lose their trust only to be cleared of all suspicions later. At the moment, Hawks was the only top three hero with his reputation and skills still intact, although…

"What is he even doing down there in Fukuoka?" Enji muttered to himself. If recent news reports were right, Hawks had for some reason decided to decrease his patrols through the city. He was still seen regularly, and his sidekicks kept the streets mostly safe, but compared to his normal patrol schedule, he seemed notably absent. Endeavor had even seen one particularly ridiculous article claiming the young number two hero had a new girlfriend, explaining his absence.

"If everything goes well, he'll be there on Monday, so maybe we can start from there," Inari suggested.

Endeavor nodded. He had pulled a new suit from his commode and turned to face Inari. "How did the other five we interrogated so far react to their interrogation?"

Inari shrugged half-heartedly. "How you'd expect them to, I guess? Angry, confused and a bit disappointed. Tatsumaki may quit this week, so we might have a free position in Marketing, but the others I'm sure will calm down eventually. We've instructed them not to tell anybody about what happened, and they seem sensible enough to follow through."

Endeavor nodded. If Tatsumaki quit, that made 24 open positions in his agency. That was a problem for another day. He should really think about restructuring the agency. So far most of his work had been taking care of emergency calls and individual requests by civilians and private clients. Now, civilians called his agency less and less, preferring other agencies to deal with their problems and emergencies. They also had almost zero requests for internships. Instead, he was sure the legal department, the guys taking care of complaints, as well as Public Relations were drowning in work.

"Wasn't Tatsumaki's job mostly to approve merchandise and organize some fund-raising publicity stunts?" he asked to make sure.

"Yes," Inari nodded. "Surely not the most important position to fill at the moment. Endeavor merchandise is just collecting dust on the shelves these days."

Endeavor grunted in response. "What are the most important positions to fill at the moment? Apart from getting two more sidekicks?" He really needed two more sidekicks. His interns had mostly quit, as had three other young sidekicks he had just employed fresh out of high school. He knew the night shifts were especially hard on his sidekicks who all had to pull extra shifts recently.

"We need at least one more to bolster our PR department, and Nakamura has requested help several times, so I think a new lawyer wouldn't be bad."

Endeavor nodded, "Tell Human Resources to publish a job ad. I don't know if it will help, but we can only try. As for Nakamura, if we don't get any useful applicants, tell him he can consult a freelancer. There are enough lawyers out there waiting for a well-paying client." He yawned. "I'll take Avalanche with me on Patrol."

Inari frowned at him, then he nodded and left.

A few hours later Avalanche was staring at the newspaper in his hand. "I can't believe this," he muttered, throwing the paper at Endeavor. "Catch!"

Endeavor caught it a bit awkwardly. He had his lunch in one hand and just barely prevented the paper from knocking the rice balls out of his hands. He shook the paper open one-handed and glanced at the title page.

There was a picture of the burning building from three days ago taking up almost half of the page. He read the title and the short summary at the top. "What is it?"

Avalanche's chopsticks pointed at a paragraph a bit further down. It was another complaint about Endeavor using his fire against the public. Right after the catastrophe, the news reports had still been fairly objective. He'd even been surprised to find some people defending his actions. Those voices had quickly died down. The expert telling the viewers that Endeavor's actions had been 'rough but vitally important' had been turned into a meme of some sorts. The poor man had been made a fool of, and it was probably his luck that there wasn't another big fire recently to bring him back on screen to make a mockery of himself again.

Endeavor hadn't really seen those memes, as he couldn't care less for those stupid pictures, but his PR-department had informed him the day before that there was a whole string of pictures of international criminals, villains or most prominently — widely known incidents of police and hero violence posted on the internet with the capture 'Rough but vitally important' in bold letters below the picture.

Since then, no news agency that wanted to keep their readership even dared to insinuate that Endeavor's actions might have been justified. At least the police didn't cave that easily, as they had informed him this morning that they saw no reason to investigate against him for use of excessive force.

Well, and then there was still that captain from the fire department insisting that Endeavor's actions had in fact been important and right. At least nobody dared to mock him, after a video of him rescuing a three-year-old from the third floor had gone viral. It seemed you can't simultaneously praise somebody with the caption 'any man can be a hero', and then ridicule him in the same breath. So, they mostly left him at least alone — no matter how much he praised Endeavor.

At least that was a good thing, Endeavor thought; though it also made him mad. There was another video that had garnered quite some popularity before it was taken off the internet because of the gruesome imagery, showing him jumping from the fourth floor with the blue-skinned man on his shoulder and then coughing his lungs out. People had posted and reposted that video asking why Endeavor acted as if he weren't immune to the fire, and that he looked really weak and nobody had ever seen All Might all but vomiting from just a little smoke like that. Later on, it had been revealed that the man had in fact already been dead, when Endeavor had pulled him out of the smoke, so people had started asking if Endeavor couldn't tell a dead man from a living and if maybe somebody had died in the time he spent 'rescuing a dead guy'. At least then they had quickly decided that further mocking Endeavor for his mistake was in bad taste, considering the feelings of the deceased's family and most of the videos had been deleted a bit later. Of course, if one wanted to, they could still find it.

Again, Endeavor hadn't actually seen the video, but he had read a short summary courtesy of his PR-team.

Endeavor didn't even bother reading the rest of the article. He turned the page, just to see if there was more. Then he paused. "Is that…?" He wondered out loud.

Avalanche looked over his shoulder. "Ah, that… yeah, I heard about it this morning on the radio. It's a statistic of how many rescues can be attributed to which hero during the fire."

Endeavor glanced at Avalanche, then back at the newspaper.

Statistics similar to those were not really all that rare. Every six months, when the new Japanese Hero Billboard Charts were about to be released, the newspapers started collecting statistics making their assumptions on how the ranking might have changed: which heroes were the biggest winners or losers of the semester? Who might surprise the audience? For these statistics, they often consulted experts and let them guess the total number of civilians saved, criminals apprehended, and property damage prevented. They might even include an educated guess on who was the most inspiring for the youth in that year – a statistic, Endeavor was sure, All Might would lead even years into his retirement.

Normally he would always do rather well in those statistics, as in terms of just raw numbers, he often beat out even All Might himself. This one was different though. This was one particular incident… They normally would not do this.

'Number One Hero not pulling his weight?' the caption read. Below was a little graphic showing that experts had determined Backdraft to be the most vital hero at the scene. Without his hard work, keeping the fire from spreading any further, they determined the death toll might have easily risen to three digits. It was mentioned that the fire department and paramedics on the scene were just as vital, but since this statistic was meant to compare heroes, they wouldn't go any deeper into estimating their contribution. Next, they recommended Mt. Lady, estimating that she had saved a grand total of 118 people from the upper floors. They credited Death Arms with having saved 81 people and Shrinking Girl with saving at least 22. Avalanche was credited for his fire-fighting efforts that had helped bring the fire under control. They argued that it was impossible to say for sure how many lives he had saved, but they credited him with saving at least eleven people and the overall structural integrity of the building that still had at least a dozen people inside at the time when he and the fire department got the fire under control. Finally, they credited Endeavor with having saved ten people of which two were still in critical condition.

"It's a ridiculous statistic," Avalanche muttered with a dark scowl on his face.

Endeavor scowled, irritated, then gave a short lopsided smile that immediately died from his face again. "At least they mentioned that the ten people I saved were generally considered to be in the greatest danger," he muttered sarcastically.

"They did?" Avalanche wondered glancing down at the last paragraph Endeavor pointed at. "Huh… I must have missed that."

Endeavor doubted Avalanche was the only one. He angrily crumpled the paper in his hands and let it go up in flames, incinerating it to a point that the ash was so wispy, the next breeze carried it away without a trace. "Let's get back to work."

Avalanche was in a bad mood the rest of the day. Endeavor didn't really care, as he wasn't in a particularly good mood either. At least the day was comparatively calm. They took down three villains all in all, one of which attacked Endeavor outright, cursing his name in the process.

As they made their way back to the agency, Endeavor was already so tired, he could hardly stay upright. He shouldn't have stayed up the entire night, he knew. Avalanche was on his phone. Enji just threw a quick glance at his phone as he pulled off his gloves. He saw enough to know Avalanche was scrolling through his Twitter-feed, but he didn't care for what his sidekick was writing or reading there.

He left Avalanche with whatever trouble he had found on Twitter that made him scowl so darkly and made to go to his office.

He saw Brazen the moment he stepped out of the elevator on the thirty-fourth floor. The young hero stood leaning against the wall with crossed arms and an angry scowl that would make Avalanche proud. Seeing Brazen of all people in such a dark mood was uncommon, but Endeavor could easily think of why he would be so angry.

He glanced at Inari, who sat at his desk looking up at him.

"He's been cleared," he informed Endeavor who nodded in understanding.

"Of course, I've been cleared!" Brazen exclaimed angrily. "What is going on? Dammit!"

Instead of answering, Endeavor went into his office and waved the sidekick to follow. Gods, he was too tired for this. As soon as the door closed behind his young sidekick, Endeavor killed off his quirk, because at this point, even just retaining the flames on his face, which was normally a very casual matter, was exhausting work.

* * *

So this is a bit of a wrap up for the public reaction to the fire incident a few chapters ago. The News coverage went from reluctantly giving Endeavor credit while arguing about whether or not he acted correctly to now follow the public opinion and criticize him a lot more than would be fair. So, most of the officials (like Police, Firefighters, emergency services, etc.) stand firmly behind Endeavor's actions, but the public doesn't quite see it that way. I also decided to incorporate social media and the internet a bit more, because I think it's in this day and age an important aspect of public relations.

Also, this chapter I realized there may be a bit of a discrepancy between how this hero society treats 'professional heroes' compared to people who help others in any other capacity, be that because they are just nice people, or because they are maybe police, emergency services, doctors, firefighters, etc. I started to think that maybe over time, the more the public started to idolize heroes, the more they might have stopped acknowledging the deeds of for example that captain of the fire department who is mentioned in this chapter. In a way, this would pit the emergency services against the heroes. This will not be a major part of this story...or any part really. I just started to wonder, if maybe a firefighter or paramedic or police officer would feel underappreciated in a world like this...  
What do you think?


	35. Brazen

Oh, I really loved the most recent MHA episode this week. Did you already watch it? Gentle and La Brava are actually my favorite villain duo in the entire story so far and I'm really glad the Anime during the last weeks reminded me of them. I had almost forgotten about just how much I like them.

Also it seems like we get at least some of the pro-hero arc this season. I'm so excited though also a bit worried. I feel like you can't really tell the pro-hero arc in just two episodes... So, I'm positive, but I also really don't want them to rush things. It is after all one of my favorite arcs that really inspired this story.

Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this chapter.

* * *

 **Brazen**

"So, what is this about?" Brazen started the moment he entered the room, banging the door shut. He looked furious. Endeavor had never seen him so angry before. He was pacing in front of the desk now, glaring at Endeavor every few seconds, before his brows would furrow in disappointment and he would turn away again to pace or stare at the wall.

"I understand you're angry," Endeavor sighed, sitting at his desk.

"Do you, huh?" the younger hero blurted, hissing with spite. "I wonder…? Do you know how it feels to have your own colleagues and friends question you about…," he hesitated with a dark scowl on his face. Abruptly, he stopped with his pacing, crossed his arms and stared Endeavor down from his position on the other side of the desk. "About what? You think I would betray you to the villains?" He banged his fists against the wall. "How could you think that?"

Oh, he was really angry. His quirk even slipped a little, as his knuckles damaged the wall and ripped the wallpaper a little. Endeavor looked at the shape of his fist indented into the wall. Brazen was normally more laid back, he was the happy-go-lucky type who didn't need much to feel happy or excited. But he also mostly remained calm in any given situation, preserving his energy.

His quirk allowed him to store energy in his body and release it at will, giving him the ability to reach superhuman strength, speed or endurance. The less he moved around all day, the more energy he could preserve. That was the reason he often tried to do as little as possible during the day, so he could pull the maximum potential out of his quirk when it was needed. It was rare for him to waste energy on emotional outbreaks. Brazen's emotional control often impressed Endeavor, who himself had to train very hard as a boy to keep his own quirk from slipping and hurting others or burning down buildings in times of emotional turmoil.

"What did I do to make you suspect me?" Brazen asked, gritting his teeth as he walked up to Endeavor's desk putting his hands on it. The dark wood cracked with the weight the sidekick put on it, and for a moment Endeavor feared Brazen would now start destroying the furniture.

It seemed he underestimated the other hero's self-control.

"Nothing," Endeavor answered finally, eyeing the hands on his desk then looking up at the face framed by black and red hair, that Brazen had gelled up into menacing spikes. "You didn't do anything. It's not like we really suspected you," he glanced away from the sidekick avoiding his burning gaze. "But we had to make sure. We checked all the employees of this agency. There was nothing you did to make you a suspect, but there was also nothing to exclude you from that list."

Brazen let the words sink in for a moment. Finally, he took his hands from the desk and folded them over his chest. His brows furrowed in an expression between anger and consideration.

"Who's _we_?" he asked after a while.

"Inari and I," Endeavor answered, glancing at the door hoping Inari wouldn't listen in and reject the role Endeavor gave him in all of this. "We went through the entire list of employees, current and former and you… Well," he shrugged.

"I didn't have an alibi, or what?"

Endeavor gave another half-shrug. It was sort of like that. He knew the employees they had singled out for interrogation would be angry and disappointed. There was really nothing he could do to alleviate that anger. He guessed it had only been a matter of time for one of them to storm into his office and demand an explanation.

"I should just quit," Brazen muttered, dragging his fingers through his spiky hair. He looked suddenly very tired. The interrogation must have lasted the better part of the day, Endeavor realized. If the guys from the Interrogation Department wanted to be thorough in checking Brazen's background, they'd have to drag every bit of information out of the young man to make sure he wasn't spying for the League. Brazen hadn't even changed into his hero-outfit. He stood there in front of Endeavor, wearing blue denim dungarees and a bright orange shirt with black boots reaching up to his calves and a blue neckerchief.

"I would prefer if you don't," Endeavor replied honestly, "but I'd understand it…"

It was the truth of the matter. Endeavor knew _he_ wouldn't stay at an Agency that just randomly suspected him of collaborating with the enemy, just because there was no more convenient suspect at hand. Even more so as Brazen hadn't worked for Endeavor for that long. For the likes of Inari, he knew, leaving the company was a difficult decision. Brazen, on the other hand, was a promising young hero. Sooner or later he'd start his own agency anyway. But for their agency, it would be a heavy loss. Getting somebody to help out in PR or the legal department was hard enough, but at least those guys wouldn't have to stand and represent the company to the broader public. They could remain in the background and nobody would connect them to Endeavor unless they went and screamed their new employer's name from the rooftops. For a sidekick, that was different. They would immediately be connected to Endeavor's name and brand as soon as they made their entrance, and at the moment Endeavor couldn't think of anybody who would want that.

Never mind that good sidekicks such as Brazen wouldn't have any trouble finding an agency to take them in. And bad sidekicks… Endeavor didn't need them. Each year, over 200 young heroes graduated from the many hero schools all over Japan. Only 5 % of those had the potential to actually become somebody great and admired within the next few years. Another 20% - 30% were decent enough that they could make names for themselves, grow into proper heroes that had the potential to become useful sidekicks, or even become independent and start their own agency. More than half of each year's graduates, however, would never be anything better than a common sidekick in some unknown agency, either keeping some remote place in Japan safe that never saw any action, to begin with, or going into a bigger city where they would be thoroughly overshadowed by a whole bunch of bigger, better and more well-known agencies.

For a moment, Brazen seemed to truly consider to just leave now. He glanced back at the door, brows knitted in uncertainty. Endeavor could see the furious curse that had already made its way halfway over Brazen's lips. But then he visibly swallowed it down.

"Then I'll just go. You'll have my notice of termination by Monday…," he sounded so uncertain, that Endeavor could smell an opportunity.

"Or I'd offer you a raise?" He offered it with a somewhat casual smile but truly hoping Brazen would accept. He had more important stuff to deal with now and would rather keep the sidekicks he currently had.

Never mind that they were actually working well as a team.

"A raise?" Brazen seemed taken aback. "I don't know if that can resolve this trust issue we have."

"I don't distrust you," Endeavor said, knowing that the problem was more Brazen's distrust of him, after what had happened. He still wanted to clear this up. Even before the interrogation had confirmed Brazen's innocence, Endeavor had not trusted him any less than his other sidekicks.

They weren't friends. He had no friends, he felt. But they were colleagues… and as such he trusted him with his life.

Sadly, that didn't make it any easier to live with the knowledge he now had. Because somebody had betrayed him, and he still didn't know who. It wasn't from his end, but… Hawks. Somebody in Fukuoka, maybe someone from Hawks' agency or even Hawks himself had sold their location to the League of Villains. The city of Fukuoka had been destroyed, and thankfully they prevented any casualties, but had they taken one wrong step, made one mistake… thousands could have died easily. He had almost died himself. They had saved his life in the hospital.

And somebody was at fault. Somebody from their own side. Somebody Endeavor and Hawks had trusted with their location and safety.

"You… _don't distrust me_?" Brazen repeated his words, his voice tilting in a furious drawl. "You sure have some way to show how much you trust me." He shook his head. "No… What if I decided I don't trust you anymore?"

Endeavor didn't say anything. He just waited for Brazen to make his final decision. After all, he knew his skill with words was mediocre at best. If Brazen truly wanted to leave, there was nothing Endeavor could say to stop him. And even if he wasn't certain… with Endeavor's track record, he'd rather send the other man running than succeed in convincing him to stay at the agency.

The young man seemed frustrated with his silence. "Nothing to say? You know, with what everybody is saying now, I shouldn't be surprised." Endeavor growled in anger at the mention of the public outrage against his person. "You know what they say about you? That you beat your children, burned your own son's face, abused your wife! That she's been stuck in the hospital for years because of you! How bad do you have to beat somebody to have an otherwise healthy person stuck in psychiatry for almost a decade?"

Brazen was seething in anger.

It was nothing compared to how furious Endeavor was.

If the sidekick wanted to hit a nerve and hurt him, he was doing a fine job. Endeavor's fists balled on his desk, his flames surging in hot anger.

"Some even say you raped her!"

His fists crashed against the wood of his desk, as he jumped from his chair. Those filthy words! Oh, he had read them, those vile accusations! But he would not hear them. His desk immediately charred and burned; his computer monitor melted just being close to his burning shoulders, plastic shrinking together, the screen cracked and liquified. The technology died in the vicinity of his rage.

"LIES!" he bellowed! "Nothing but filthy lies!" And he would not hear them! He had done wrong, oh yes, he had, but not that. "I would never…" The words would not even leave his mouth.

Brazen stepped back suddenly afraid. Good! Nobody should utter such bullshit and not regret it. If he were close enough, Endeavor would have strangled the young man, but as he lifted his hands off the ashen remains of his desk, the other man was already at the other side of the room.

"Yeah, I didn't think you had!" Brazen growled. "I told everybody you wouldn't! I defended you!" Endeavor was so angry, he hardly even heard him. He stomped over the ash of his desk, leaving charcoal on the carpet as he trudged towards the other man.

"I told them to shut up! They asked for an interview. Me… As if I could tell them anything! As if I would! They offered money, you know, a lot of it, I didn't even have to say anything – just make up some believable lies, that's all they wanted!" Endeavor stopped before him, flames still surging in anger, but he finally heard his words. Brazen's voice had increased in volume. He looked afraid. But he kept talking, shrieking almost. "But I wouldn't betray you to the press! How can you think I would betray you to the villains!?"

He was hurt… Now that he stood right in front of him, Endeavor could see it. And it surprised him more than his anger before had been surprising. He had expected anger, disappointment, even hate… Hate was easy. But hurt…?

The fear and hurt made his chestnut brown eyes almost seem red.

"I defended you! I trusted you!"

Had every member of his agency been offered money for an interview? Had they all been asked to lie, to come up with some horror-story if they didn't know any shocking enough truth?

There was another thought that bugged Enji…

"Why?" He asked hissing. Still angry, still hurt, still shocked by that accusation, those disgustingly vile words.

"Huh?" Brazen shrieked. He stood with the back to the wall and Endeavor wasn't quite ready to back off. "Why?"

"Why did you defend me? Hm?" Endeavor glowered at him. Bullshit! "You hardly know me. You know nothing about my family."

The young hero swallowed tried to get away from Endeavor, but the bigger man didn't let him go just yet.

"We're working together," Brazen said finally, his voice unsure and wavering. "We're colleagues, of course, I know you."

Endeavor grunted snidely. Working together? Brazen had only joined the agency just over one year ago. Sure, they had worked together, but who was that loyal to their employer of just one year?

"For a year," Endeavor muttered after Brazen didn't clarify. "You don't know much about me, beyond the patrols we've had together. Why would you defend me, huh?"

Brazen stared like a deer in headlights. "You…" he muttered, "you…" Endeavor could clearly see the tears threatening to spill. "You saved me!"

He didn't know what he had expected. What bullshit reason Brazen had, whether he had even meant his words before or had just wanted to shock Endeavor. But this was not it. Saved him? Bullshit! He had saved half the city of Musutafu and just today they had proceeded to throw insults and garbage at him. He had fought the Noumu in Hosu half a year ago, and a week ago, some guy from Hosu had smeared red color on the main entrance of the Public Safety Commission demanding Endeavor's license be suspended.

"Bullshit!" He hissed.

Brazen's face fell in disappointment as if he had hoped Endeavor would remember. He was still young, Endeavor thought, somewhat irritated, but Brazen had been a hero for three years now. He had to know it was impossible remembering every single civilian he had saved. Never mind that Endeavor often saved bigger groups, not even interacting with them personally. He had officially been credited with saving the entire city of Fukuoka – him and Hawks both – yet he hadn't actually talked to any civilian during that fight.

"You don't remember," Brazen muttered dejectedly. "It was fifteen years ago. You saved my sister and me from…"

"Who was the villain," Endeavor asked impatiently, interrupting the younger hero.

"Eh…," Brazen seemed blindsided by that question, but he caught himself quickly. He evaded Endeavor's gaze, suddenly looking embarrassed, even afraid. "My aunt. She, ehm…, she called herself Wo-Wolven."

Endeavor finally backed away. He _did_ remember Wolven. In general, he remembered all the villains he had fought, even the weaker ones. It was just the civilians he had his problems with. Put him face to face with a group of ten people and he wouldn't be able to point out a person he had saved just the day before. It had often been a problem of his when the police asked him for some information after the fact, or when a case came back years down the line.

A blue-skinned man, looking still alive but already dead… He hadn't known.

A family of four, a boy and a girl, the girl with her father's tail and horns, and the panic on the mother's face, her nails bruising his hand…

He could remember them: the civilians in that fire.

Brazen could just make it up, he thought dejectedly. There were forums and websites where you could look everything up about every hero in all of Japan. Some fans knew more about his work than he himself, he was sure… But why would he make this up?

He backed away from the younger man.

"I see…," he muttered.

Wolven, a villain with a mutation quirk. He remembered her claws and fangs and the fur on her face, sharp teeth drenched in saliva. She had been accused of robbing a bank. Her shape had been unmistakable on the security camera's footage. He had been 32, the Number 2 Hero for 12 years and counting, and the police had asked him to help with the arrest. She had lived at her sister's house at the time, and promptly took her niece and nephew hostage, threatening them, beating the young girl as she started screaming.

He now thought he could remember the young boy, only six or seven years old, trying to fend her off with a kitchen knife.

It must have been taken out of Brazen's file, Endeavor thought, maybe to protect him after Wolven had been released from Tartarus some five years ago. And he had never spoken about the incident or one of them, Inari or Enji himself would have remembered when they went through all his employees' pasts and possible connections to villains.

Endeavor backed a bit further away. Oh, he did understand. That didn't make it any easier. Only now did he really see what remained of his desk and the black traces of ash on his carpet. His flames had mellowed down.

"I see…," he repeated tiredly, "sit." He really needed to go to bed, but this seemed more important because he felt he truly understood now. What he had saved Brazen and his sister from had ultimately been classified as a case of domestic violence. Wolven had not been the children's parent, but she had lived in the same house and had taken care of them while their parents were on long business trips. The incident when Endeavor had stepped in, had only been the peak of the depravity that had played out at that house.

Brazen seemed confused at his sudden offer to sit down, but when Endeavor sat heavily on a wing chair still undamaged by his sudden furious outbreak of fire and heat, Brazen sat on one of the couches. He looked wary, sitting only at the edge, ready to up and leave at any moment.

"I couldn't protect her," he muttered, "my own sister! But then you came and…," he looked at the carpet embarrassed, "I wanted to be a hero ever since. I hated being that weak."

"You were what… six?" Endeavor asked, waving the other hero's anger away with a motion of his hand. Because this misplaced guilt was truly ridiculous. He stopped suddenly, as he realized his thought pattern.

Someone should have told him when Enji himself had been that young…

"Still…," Brazen muttered. But he didn't argue the point. He was 21 now. Endeavor understood. Brazen now knew that nobody could have demanded of him to do anything. He knew it, even if he couldn't quite feel it yet.

"I'm sorry," Endeavor muttered. He sounded as exhausted as he felt. He hadn't really thought the revelation about his past would have this effect on people who had nothing to do with it. This went far beyond just him. Far beyond his family.

He was a hero. People had admired him.

He only realized that now.

Maybe because he had never stopped to consider those who would take time out of their day to buy a shirt with his name or face on it, who would put a figurine of his likeness on their shelves, who put all this time into collecting every bit of information about his day. Maybe because he had always found that mildly annoying, irritating or even hampering him in his work. Maybe because he had never really bothered with them, hadn't gone to interviews or talk shows or signature hours as all the other heroes did. Maybe because even his own children would not touch Endeavor merchandise if their lives depended on it…

Of course, he had known that his actions threw a bad light on hero society, that people would be shocked and disappointed.

But had he ever considered that there might be people, who he had inspired who had even become heroes because of him and whose worlds were now shifting and turning?

"What are you sorry for?" Brazen cried out in anger and frustration. "You saved me!"

"Yes, I did," he admitted. "I saved you from your aunt then, and now you find out I may not be much better than her." He shrugged. "It must have been quite shocking."

If he acted nonchalant about it all… Then maybe that was because that's how he felt. This new revelation had been a shock. And he did feel guilty about it, but only a little bit, truly. There was so much guilt drowning him already, that this… it was just one more thing he had trampled under his foot.

He had hurt his wife. He had hurt his children. He had turned his eldest son into a villain…

The gun against his head and those terrible terrible scars…

Was it wrong of him, that he couldn't really be bothered to feel overly guilty on behalf of some strangers who idolized him compared to that? Of course, Brazen was no stranger… but it still didn't compare.

"You're not…," Brazen muttered, "You're nothing like her. How can you be? You saved me!"

"And maybe somebody should have saved my wife and children from me," he retorted.

"It's not-…" _the same_ , Endeavor thought he might say, but then he stopped himself. "I don't-…" _understand_. Maybe that's what he wanted to say, but again, he stopped himself. "How could you!?"

Enji didn't really feel like answering. It felt too personal and really, what was there to say? There was no right response to that. He glanced at the window just so he didn't have to look at Brazen. After a while, he turned back, but he still didn't answer.

"My sister was four when it happened, you know?" Brazen started again. His face contorted into a grimace of half-processed horror. "She still remembers you. You saved her life, she admires you. More than I even. When she was six, she still had nightmares from that night, so Mom bought her one of those huge Endeavor plushies. She grew up, thinking you were the greatest, and you'd always protect her." Enji didn't know where this was going. "She'll turn 19 in April. I thought it was all over, but she has nightmares again."

Endeavor frowned. This wasn't his fault. Not everything was fucking his fault. He was about to say that to Brazen, but he stopped himself.

"I don't know what to do," Brazen muttered. "My friends keep asking why I'm still working here. They come to my home, insulting you, and she's right there. She says she can handle it, but I don't want her to be afraid anymore."

"Do you want to quit," Endeavor asked finally because he didn't know what he was supposed to do, he didn't know how to handle this. But maybe it was best for Brazen to just go his own way, not continue to work for a hero he had admired so long only to be so utterly disappointed.

"I want… I _want_ to hate you!" he hissed. "If only half of what they say in the media… if what is written in that diary is true, I know… I know how they must have felt, and I want to _hate_ you for it." He glared at Endeavor, but then he looked away again in frustration. "But I can't! How can I? You saved my life, my sister's life. If it weren't for you…" He screamed in frustration.

Enji returned his looks, even held eye-contact for a while because everything else seemed cowardly. "Kosuke," he used Brazen's real name, "did you ever stop to consider," Enji finally answered with a sigh, "how much money I made bringing Wolven down?"

"Huh?" Brazen asked in confusion.

"I mean, it's not normal that a high-ranking hero such as myself helps the police with what is supposed to be just an ordinary arrest. The bank Wolven robbed paid quite handsomely for my involvement. They wanted me there because Wolven had stolen some precious gems they had kept in their vaults for some of their richer clients, and they feared if there was an altercation they might get lost."

"What are you saying?" Brazen frowned.

"I'm saying, I was paid quite well for taking Wolven down. I might have saved your life, I might have saved your sister's life," he leaned back a little, "but that does not mean that you owe me your life or her life… or anything really. I have already been paid." He shrugged at Brazen's confused expression. "You are a hero yourself now. It's a job, you know that. Nothing more than that. If you want to hate me, go right ahead, you wouldn't be the only one."

Brazen stared at him, but then instead of getting angry, he sacked a little. Finally, he looked as if he didn't want to jump up again right away. "It's not that easy," he muttered.

"Hmm…" Endeavor hummed. He hadn't thought so. "Do you want to quit? As I mentioned, I'd prefer it if you stayed, but I really can't force you. I need a decision, though."

"Why do you think there is a traitor?" Brazen asked after a moment of silence.

"I will tell you if you stay." The corner of his mouth twitched in an almost-smile as he bribed Brazen like that.

* * *

I hope you did like this. I know it focuses very much on an OC but I find Endeavor's relationship to these OC coworkers quite interesting, and overall, it's exciting to write, because they all have a bit of a different opinion about him and a different perspective as well.

Now, this took a lot longer than expected, but let's talk about Brazen: We already learned a lot of his past in this chapter, but here is some added information.  
Brazen's birth name is Suzuki Kosuke.  
He's a 21 year old sidekick of the Endeavor Hero Agency. His quirk is called Quickening. It's a stockpiling quirk that allows him to conserve energy throughout the day or week - for example by eating, resting and sleeping - and then use whenever he needs it, allowing him to use bursts of energy to achieve superhuman feats like jumping very high, incredible speed, monstrous strength or abnormal stamina. It is very useful and flexible in how he can use it, but he always has to take care and pay attention on how much energy he really has left. Especially during long shifts or fights there will be a point when he is simply all out of energy, and while other heroes might still be able to pull something out of their quirk even after a point of total exhaustion, he - in a state of exhaustion - might as well be quirkless.

Brazen's is a young man with blach hair and red tips, that he - as part of his costume during work - styles into menacing spikes. His eyes have a light brown color that seems almost red in the right light and whenever he is in civilian clothes he wears the most excentric clothes in bright and flashy colors and weird combination of garments. his hero costume consists of bright red gloves, boots and belt and a midnight blue tight fitting one piece suit, over which he wears brightly coloured protective gears around his knees, shins, elbows, chest and back. He has red and blue paint on his face and around the eyes.

Brazen was born in the area around Musutafu. His parents both had well-paying jobs which demanded that they travelled a lot. With two young children (Brazen and his two years younger sister) they had to step back on their carriers a little which - while they loved their children - both were not particularly happy with. When his mother's younger sister lost her Job and apartment and moved in with the family - which was only supposed to be temporary - the parents saw this as an opportunity to focus more on their jobs and go on more business-trips again. The aunt had no idea how to deal with children, didn't want any children of her own and nothing to do with her niece and nephew - but as she lived in the house without paying rent, which she was repeatedly reminded, of even more so as she failed to get a new job - she couldn't wiggle herself out of the responsibility. After a while she started to let that frustration out on her young niece and nephew, becoming physically abusive and neglecting their everyday care. She also started stealing - first the funds her sister and bother in law left her to take care of the household and the children, then later from shops and even started robbing banks in the neighborhood going by the villain name Wolven.

Brazen was six years old, when he and his sister were saved of a particularly bad day of abuse by the then number two hero Endeavor. After that both children started idolizing Endeavor and Brazen wanted to become a hero to both protect his sister and to follow in Endeavor's footsteps. He was not a particularly promising student at first, as his quirk was very difficult to use to its full potential at first, which was the main reason he never got into UA or Shiketsu but would later graduate from a rather minor hero school. Still, in the later years of his education, when he started getting a hang on his quirk, he became a very promising young hero and even started working for Endeavor as an intern in his last months before graduation. After his graduation, he stayed at the Endeavor Hero Agency, but it always seemed clear that he had the talent to soon start his own Agency, although he never seemed to even think about that.

Brazen is often calm, collected and reserved, to the point that he seems almost bored lacking any sort of passion. However, that is mostly a front that he puts on to conserve as much energy as necessary. In reality, Brazen can suddenly be very energetic. He is a bit eccentric and sometimes acts in ridiculous or quite stupid ways.


	36. The Sidekicks of the Endeavor H Agency

I'm very happy, the last chapter with the Brazen-focus was so well-received. It gives me more confidence, writing more about these sidekicks. This chapter will again focus on the sidekicks. Originally I had planned for this and last chapter to be one chapter, but then the whole conversation got a bit too long.

I hope you enjoy it, and for all of you in the many countries affected by the Coronavirus, who now have to stay at home, stay home, stay safe and I hope this chapter can at least curb some of the boredom. This is not a promise, because it very much depends on how much I can get myself motivated in the coming days, but maybe I can manage to give you a few extra uploads during the coming week.

* * *

 **The Sidekicks of the Endeavor Hero Agency**

Brazen seemed to consider his bribery for a moment. Endeavor already feared he would deny it. That his curiosity wouldn't outweigh his anger and disappointment. He could even understand it. Part of him wondered why Brazen was still here. But the young man seemed uncertain.

Then, finally, he nodded his agreement. "Fine."

"Good," Endeavor nodded. "Inari?" he called out a bit louder. "I know you must have been listening in." If only to make sure Endeavor didn't accidentally destroy the whole building in his anger.

After a few seconds, the door opened. "You called?" Inari glanced around the room wearily. He frowned at the burned remains of the desk and computer. "I see we need a new desk."

"Call Silent Tracker to join us," Endeavor demanded, with a side glance at Brazen.

"Right away." Inari closed the door again.

Brazen looked a bit surprised at the turn of events. "Silent? She knows about this, too?"

"No, but you will both find out now. Just you two. It's inconvenient, but we have to keep this secret."

Now, the young sidekick looked intrigued. Still, despite his clear curiosity, he remained quiet sitting on the couch. Now that he had aired his anger, yelled a little at Endeavor and shortly feared for his life witnessing the Flame Hero's fury, before admitting to all his hidden hurt… he seemed calmer again. He slouched a little, put his arms over the backrest, staring at the ceiling. He even started whistling, when Silent Tracker took her time to come to the office. That annoyed Endeavor to no end.

He knew why he never spent much time with Brazen by himself. The young man was a decent hero. He was a rising star. Endeavor gave him four more years, at best, before he would start his own agency. He could pack quite a punch. In terms of sheer attack power, Brazen was the strongest of his sidekicks, even if his quirk was the most volatile and inconsistent. After a long shift he hit weaker than even Inari, but after a good night's rest and a decent meal, he could kick even Endeavor through a building. Endeavor had thought it was maybe due to the man's laziness that he didn't have an agency of his own already. Now, he thought it might maybe be due to his admiration of Endeavor.

The whistling was mind-numbing…

He was truly relieved when Silent Tracker finally appeared. She was already out of costume; Inari must have caught her just before she could leave the agency. Shrinking Girl would have the night shift today.

After Endeavor invited her to sit next to Brazen, he finally started explaining.

"Inari and I have been going through our list of employees looking for a traitor," he explained, mainly to Silent Tracker who didn't even know that much. "The reason was that we both harbor strong suspicion that someone leaked my meeting with Hawks to the League of Villains."

"In Fukuoka?" Silent Tracker asked, a little overwhelmed with the sudden information. This must come out of nowhere for her. Brazen, who already had a bit of time to think about Endeavor's reasons to search for a traitor, seemed to understand almost immediately; his eyes widened a little.

"Yes," Endeavor answered.

"It seemed suspicious," Inari explained, who had joined them standing at the closed door, "that the Noumu would appear right when Endeavor first arrived in Fukuoka."

Silent Tracker frowned in thought. "Surely no coincidence, mhm…" she thought out loud, "but with those teleportation quirks they have at their disposal, not impossible that it was a spontaneous decision."

"Not impossible," Endeavor agreed, "but at that time, Kurogiri was already in the custody of the police. Leaving only the other teleportation quirk we first witnessed in Kamino Ward. From what I heard from Mirko and Hawks, Dabi…," his voice halted as he said the name. He had just stumbled over it and now all words died off his tongue. Dabi… Touya had been there and he hadn't clearly seen him, hadn't recognized him.

How could he have been so blind? It was a question that had weighed heavily on him ever since he had found out about Dabi's true name.

Black hair, turquoise eyes, those horrific scars… and the gun to his head…

He had the same dream almost every night. It left him sweating, panting, panicking… Recently, when he came home from work, he was too exhausted to dream. He was better, ever since he had returned to work. Still, every night he was afraid to see his son again.

Pathe… Shit!

His hip was aching where the bullet had hit the bone.

"We have consulted with the police," Inari continued when Endeavor's voice stopped dead. "This other teleportation quirk. The task force currently responsible for dealing with the League of Villains under Detective Tsukauchi has deduced that this second teleportation quirk is much more restrictive in its use. They are not sure about the details, but it seems like specific people are teleported to other specific people."

"So, it seems unlikely they could just bring a Noumu to Fukuoka, unless one of their members was already waiting there," Silent Tracker quickly deduced.

"Yes," Endeavor joined the conversation again with a quick and grateful glance at Inari. "It's still not entirely impossible, but it seems more likely that they were waiting for us and not just planning their attack in response to my sudden appearance there."

"You think somebody sold out yours and Hawks' location to the League of Villains?" Brazen finally broke his silence, still wide-eyed. Still shocked. "You think somebody would conspire with the League to… Half the city was destroyed. There could have been thousands of deaths and you thought…" He didn't finish his thought. Instead, he looked away in anger.

Of course, he was again thinking about the fact that Endeavor had not only considered him a possible traitor but even gone so far as to interrogate him.

"This was too important to just ignore," Inari said, although he looked a bit guilty. "Sorry, Kosuke."

Silent Tracker didn't quite understand what was going on between the three men in the office, but eventually, she sighed and broke the silence that was spreading between them.

"So, what did you find out? I assume you did a thorough investigation of all of us?" She sounded rather nonchalant about this, but there was something on her face. A silent fury. It seemed different to Brazen's fury though. This was no anger directed at him but at whoever might be the traitor.

"We did," Endeavor agreed. "And it seems the leak is not from our side. There is a possibility that the traitor had worked here once, but now quit. But that seems unlikely. If the League had eyes and ears in my agency, why would they suddenly withdraw them?"

"So, you assume the leak is at Hawks' end?" She frowned. "Someone in Fukuoka would have a hand in the city's own destruction?"

"No way… Hawks' agency is much smaller than ours. Most of its employees live in Fukuoka. Apart from the sidekicks who come from all over Japan, most of them even have family there. Why would they risk that? Never mind it was Hawks who suggested the meeting being at Fukuoka. If the leak came from his agency and if they indeed have friends and family there, wouldn't they at least try to lure you somewhere else?"

"Maybe they feared we would get suspicious," Silent Tracker reasoned, "or whoever is the traitor did, in fact, try to convince Hawks of a different location and failed."

"Possibly," Endeavor muttered, thinking about Hawks. Maybe it had been important to Hawks, to show him the town. They had spent an unnecessarily long time just walking through the town. It had almost been a bit of a sightseeing tour, only Hawks hadn't been interested in actually visiting any famous sights. They had just strolled through some busy streets. Back then, Endeavor had thought Hawks wanted to be seen by his fans and the people in his city. Show some presence. But maybe he had also wanted to show off to Endeavor a little.

"So, do we have any suspects at this point?" Silent Tracker asked.

"No," Inari answered before Endeavor could.

"With Hawks being in Fukuoka it's difficult to investigate his agency. It's just too far away and I don't want to ask any other agency for support until I have any concrete evidence." Endeavor sighed. "Especially with the current situation." He looked at Silent Tracker. "So, that's where you come in. Infiltration, tracking, and espionage are your specialty, so I want you to go to Fukuoka as soon as this meeting regarding Best Jeanist's disappearance is over."

She looked mildly annoyed at the suggestion. "You do know I have my wife here to take care of. She won't like it if I just up and leave for who knows how long," she complained.

Endeavor made a face. "If you don't go to Fukuoka, I need a different plan," he complained, equally annoyed.

"I didn't say I won't go," she muttered, "just that Umeko won't like it."

Endeavor didn't know how to react. What did she want from him? Thankfully Inari was there to help out.

"How about we give you two weeks of vacation over New Year? You could take her skiing," he offered.

Endeavor looked at him disgruntled because New Year was always a lot of work. But then he smiled somewhat forced and nodded. "Two weeks over New Year."

"Ah, yes, Umeko does love skiing. She always complains we never get to go anymore." Silent Tracker smiled at him broadly, as if she hadn't just made him agree to something he would not have agreed to under any other circumstances. Heroes couldn't just take vacation days whenever they liked. Sure, he gave his employees the legal requirement, some even more than that, but everybody wanted to take off during New Year. Avalanche had already a week approved right around New Year, leaving Endeavor short both of his most experienced sidekicks over some of the busiest days in the year.

Well, she won that round of negotiations.

"I'll fly out on Tuesday," she declared.

"We'll brief you again on what exactly to look out for. Don't do anything rash though," Inari warned.

"Anything rash?" she asked with a charming smile. "Like beating the asshole who betrayed us to a bloody pulp. They would deserve it! Endeavor almost died!"

"Don't engage!" Endeavor warned. "Whatever you find out, I want you to report back to me before you do anything. This is strictly a reconnaissance mission. I don't need you stirring up trouble with the League or Hawks or his sidekicks or even the police over on Kyushu, understood?" He waited for her to nod. "Actually, if I'm honest, I'd feel best if nobody even realized you were ever there, to begin with."

She looked unhappy with that order, protruding her lower jaw like a petulant child, "Right, boss."

"As for you Brazen," he turned to the younger sidekick.

"Sure," the man muttered, unimpressed. "If Silent goes to Fukuoka… that means double and triple shifts again."

"Not what I meant," Endeavor grunted although Brazen was right. Without Silent Tracker they were again short one capable sidekick. "Hawks will be here on Monday. I don't know if he will come alone or bring some of his employees, but I imagine…," he shrugged, "well to be blunt, I imagine you and he should get along splendidly. Don't be too obvious, but try and befriend him. Spend some time with him. Maybe he already has suspicions of his own."

"Sure," Brazen said again, shrugging. "I can befriend the Number Two. Might even ask him for some signatures to sell online. I mean, since Fukuoka, he's now officially the most beloved hero in Japan." Endeavor glared at him. "They even say, with your approval ratings plummeting, he'd already be the number one hero if the new rankings were announced now."

Endeavor's flames flickered a little around his jaw in annoyance.

"Something else," Inari said before either Brazen or Endeavor could say anything else. "I hope you are aware of what this means. With Jeanist's disappearance, Endeavor's plummeting public approval and a possible traitor in Hawks agency, that means that currently, all three top heroes of Japan are compromised or significantly weakened. And so soon after All Might's retirement. On top of that, we have information that UA suspects that there may be another traitor in their ranks, and it's only a few months ago that the League of Villains' Toga infiltrated Shiketsu."

Brazen's mocking smile vanished off his face. Silent Tracker growled angrily. Endeavor glowered at his secretary.

Now that he recounted all the recent events, their own suspicions and what that would mean…

What did that mean?

"We need to be careful," Inari ended. "In any case, this cannot reach the public. If any of this information so much as leaves this office…"

"I can imagine," Brazen muttered in annoyance, "pure panic… Aw, how troublesome."

When he finally came back home after having worked for almost two entire days and one night, the media was back outside his house, paparazzi camping in front of his yard, but he was so tired that he hardly cared. He just fell on his bed and slept without dreaming.

* * *

To be honest, the conversation with Brazen last chapter was not just something I enjoyed doing for Brazen's sake, but also a bit of practice for Hawks. That will be another Endeavor fan we will have to address now. I intend for Hawks to make his first appearance soon. Finally!


	37. A Nightly Incident

Well with all my motivation to write so much this week... it didn't really work out - you might have realized there was no extra update this week. Also... I draw threateningly close to the end of my already written chapters. Normally when I post I already have the next three or so chapters (almost) ready to go. Now, I'm running out of chapters, as I somewhat hide from the obligation of writing this next conflict. It's a lot more difficult than I had expected.

* * *

 **A Nightly Incident**

It was early in the morning on Sunday when he suddenly woke up. It was still dark outside, still too early to go to work. It was Sunday, but to him Sundays were as much work as any other day of the week. There had been a time when he had tried to take two Sunday's a month off, to spend time with his family. Those times were long past. Touya had only been four then, or maybe five… Shoto hadn't even been born yet, and Natsuo…

He didn't remember. Maybe he had already been born. But he would have been very small. He wouldn't remember anyway. He wondered if even Fuyumi and Touya would remember those times.

It had ultimately not been positive for his hero rankings, so he had stopped taking time off, unless it was truly necessary.

For the Hero Rankings, only three factors were really important. Number of cases solved, public approval ratings, and attribution to society. His popularity had always been abysmal compared to other high-ranking heroes, so he couldn't bank on public approval ratings. As he avoided talk shows and public outings like the Pest, and since he also wasn't the most inspiring hero, his score for attribution to society was always just mediocre. So, he had to try his hardest to dominate the last category. And that he did. For years, he was dominating the ranking for heroes with most solved cases. Five years ago, he had officially become the single one hero with the most cases solved in the history of japan. Every day he didn't work, he would lose a little of his lead.

Of course, hero rankings weren't everything. Becoming Number One on the billboard charts had never been his primary goal. He had wanted to be the strongest, stronger than All Might, and strength was the one factor that didn't really work into the hero rankings. If he were honest, if he had tried, if he had gone to talk shows or other PR-events, maybe he would have even been able to beat All Might in these rankings. He already had more solved cases… Put a bit of effort into his reputation, throw a few million yen at charities and he might have made it. Not likely, but possible. But he had wanted to win this number one position by merit, by power, and sweat and hard work. Sneaking the number one position away by kissing up to the public or the jury who would decide the rankings had never been his goal. He wanted to be the strongest hero. The one and only.

So, official hero rankings weren't the most important thing, but they were the best measuring stick he had. And among the three categories acknowledged via the billboard charts, the number of cases solved was the only thing he himself put any value on.

Ultimately, he had decided that his work and ambition were more important than his family. In the end, with him, it always came down to this. Work was the most important.

Still, he normally tried to get at least a bit of much needed sleep done on Sundays, sleeping a little longer than normally.

And he hadn't even slept last night. He had expected to be dead to the world for at least ten hours straight, if not half the day. Yet, as he looked out the window, it was dark outside. The moon shone silver lines on his tatami floor boards.

There were lights outside. Cars passing-by or parked at the street outside his property, but the sky was still pitch black.

Why was he awake?

Then he heard it. There was a small noise, like a scraping on wood.

He sat upright in his bed, listening. There it was again. Like a tap-tap on the ground. Was somebody sneaking outside his window?

He moved his blanket away and stood up as silently as he could walking up to his window. As he glanced outside, he couldn't see anything but the lights at first. It was unusually bright, like a car was parked just outside shining straight onto his property. He blinked against the bright light, trying to see anything else, but failing. There were shadows moving, but that could just be from the wind moving the branches of the big peach tree in front of the house.

Still, he was sure somebody was here to make the noise. But if so, why hadn't the alarm system triggered? For a second of sudden fright, he wondered if he hadn't switched it on that night, but of course it worked with a timer. It should have warned him if somebody had entered his property during the night unauthorized.

It should have… but either it had failed, or he was imagining things, because now that he managed to shake off the heavy drowsiness, he could hear it clearly.

Barefoot, he sneaked up to his door, sliding it open and entering the corridor. He was quite sure he could hear people, two or three of them, whispering. They didn't seem to be in the house, but just outside. He walked down to the side exit which led to the patio with the small pond.

As he opened the door and stepped outside, he could hear feet shuffle hastily on wooden ground, but as he looked around, he still couldn't see anything. The bright headlights were at the front of the house. They hardly reached here, but with the moon and stars and the lights coming from a close by apartment complex, it was enough that he could make out exactly what was in front of him.

If he turned left now, he would find his way to the dojo. Instead, he went right to walk around the house to the other side.

As he turned around the corner he was immediately blinded by the lights. They must have put them on full beam. It hurt his eyes to the point that he raised his hand protectively in front of his face, and blinked rapidly to get used to the dazzling brightness.

"Faster," he heard a woman. He could hear somebody move hurriedly across the yard. Then he could finally make out two silhouettes, dark against the light.

He activated his fire immediately. He didn't know who these guys were, but they were on his property, and they must have disabled his security system and now they were obviously running without him ever having seen their faces.

He was only in a pair of boxer shorts and a tank top that immediately sizzled and burned in the fire, leaving him bare chested. But he still wasn't fast enough. As his fire shot towards them, he could hear car doors slamming and the motor roaring to life. One of them seemed to hesitate at the car and look back at him. Now that the trespassers were behind the headlights Enji could only barely make out their shapes. But he was sure one of them stood for a moment.

He put more force into his fire, but it collided with something… Water! He realized it only as the cloud of hot steam surrounded. He ran out of the boiling hot air, skin red from the heat, towards the main street.

But the car was already racing away. He looked around angrily. Then there was a sudden flash.

He turned towards the news crew in sudden realization that he wasn't alone. Since when were they back? He raised his arms to shield himself from the camera light. It was only when he raised his arms to his face that he realized he stood there only in boxers, his chest and back exposed to the public. All his scars open to be seen and judged by everyone.

Not just the cut over his face, but all of them. The deep scar tissue in his side where the Noumu had ripped his guts open. His left arm still mangled where the Noumu had flayed skin and flesh from his bone when Endeavor had relentlessly burned it from the inside out, while its mouth and teeth kept regenerating endlessly, digging into his forearm. His right arm still marred with the burn mark Dabi had left there during his encounter. Shigaraki Tomura's distorted handprint on his chest. The bullet marks where his own son had tried to kill him. Even the fading bruises on his chest from the Friday patrol were still visible.

A thousand other scars that marked his body from thirty years of fighting villains.

Endeavor didn't dislike his scars. Most he had well-earned in tough battles. Some remind him of failures, some of his victories. Some of long forgotten shock and past anxiety, and some of very current trauma and real nightmares. Some, like the little bullet wounds his son had left on his skin, he could still hardly look at; and some he wore with pride.

Still, no hero wanted their scars and injuries to be in the public eye. No hero wanted the world to know how vulnerable they were. He couldn't do anything to hide his facial scar, but for the others… There was a reason he mostly wore long sleeved clothes that closed to his neck.

He immediately withdrew to his yard. Whoever that was on his property was long gone anyway, and because of the bright lights from the headlights, he hadn't been able to get a clear view of the car, never mind the license plate. They were gone.

What had they…?

As he turned back to his front doors. There in broad letters of dark red paint words were smeared over his door and walls.

"Death to Villains! Death to Abusers! Death to the False Heroes!"

He stood deathly still for a moment. Those words… He remembered them well enough. "The Hero License is no license to abuse! Death to Villains! Death to Abusers!" Weren't those the words that had been left by the people who had rescued the Raining Man before he reached Tartarus?

And somebody had just used water to block his attack resulting in a big cloud of steam that had dissolved into the air as soon as they had made their successful getaway.

He tried to remember everything Inari had told him about the group that had freed the Raining Man. There had been three people, plus the Raining Man. And one of them had a quirk that could jam communications. At least that had been the police's assumption at the time.

He ground his teeth in anger as he entered the house again and threw the disgustingly dirtied door shut behind himself. Turning to the alarm system next to the door, he could see that it was switched off but looked undamaged. He tapped against it with impatient fingers, but it didn't go back online. Instead, the screen remained black and dead. He pressed 'Standby' several times, but nothing happened. Had they used an electricity quirk to short-circuit it? That was surely possible, even if they hadn't entered the house. Somebody with a good and precise electricity quirk could do this. He took the system off the wall.

Enji was a bit rough as he wrenched the plastic case open to see if there was any visible damage, but he couldn't see anything. He wasn't an electrician, but the wiring seemed fine to his untrained eye. His eyes found the batteries. Maybe the problem was them…

He put the system on the shoe cabinet in the hall. He would just take it with him to work and let the Support Team look over it. They were more knowledgeable than him in this field. Surely, they would find out what was wrong with the system.

And until then… He went to his home office, and onto the computer to activate his old back-up security system. It wasn't quite up to par, but it would hold for a few days, he hoped. In any case, if he had enemies who could so easily sidestep the best home security system on the market… It would just be a waste of money to buy a new system immediately without knowing how they had managed to circumvent it. They would just destroy the new one just like this one.

A glance at the clock revealed that it was 6 AM. He had slept for eight solid hours. Better than nothing. No point going back to sleep. With his luck, he would just get a nightmare. When he wasn't quite so tired anymore, those were more and more common.

He drank a coffee in the kitchen, put the empty cup in the dishwasher and contemplated whether to put it on or not. Since he spent most of his days at work, ate lunch and dinner either in the Endeavor Hero Agency cafeteria or out on patrol, he hardly even ate anything here anymore. At most, he enjoyed his breakfast at home and even then, he ate at the agency more often.

It was one of those changes that he hadn't quite considered now that he lived alone. Hardly any dirty dishes. Overall with him hardly at home, nothing happened in the house. There was a stack of dirty clothes in the washing room, because he never quite found the time to take care of those, a growing stack of paperwork on the desk in the office, the disheveled bedding on his bed where he slept, and some untidiness in his main bathroom and the dojo. That aside, most places in the house were just collecting dust.

Back when he had first come back home to the empty house after Natsuo's pretend kidnapping, he had stayed here for many days without ever stepping outside. He had used all the rooms then, even the ones he hadn't entered for years before, like the guest rooms, or the children's playroom, or the workroom next to the garage, or Rei's small library. He had been everywhere just to get a change of scenery without actually leaving the house, and the house had quite a few rooms to offer.

Ha had left all the rooms in a mess not bothering with cleanup. Fuyumi had always taken care of that before. He had never even bothered to find out if she had done it herself or arranged a house-cleaning service. It was only when one Monday morning, a woman had appeared on his doorstep demanding to be let in to clean, that he had realized it must have been the latter: Fuyumi had paid somebody to do it. Irina, or Irina-Obasan as she demanded to be called, was a Russian migrant in her fifties.

It was quite convenient for him, he just let her keep working and made the contract in his name and not Fuyumi's. Now, however, he started wondering if he still needed her at all. Nothing was dirty anymore, nothing was even used anymore. And although he didn't quite know when he would find time for it, he thought he should find an hour to clean the bathroom and do his dirty laundry once a week at least.

Everything else was of course collecting dust, but he didn't need her to come by once a week to stay for half-a-day just to dust down the shelves and cushions that nobody used anymore anyway.

The house was too big for him…

He should ask Irina to come by this Sunday if possible. Maybe she could get rid of the smearing on the front door and walls. Or at least she could hire somebody to do it if the color was too hard to wash off by regular means.

He really wanted those words gone from his house. He didn't want to see them again at all.

He should probably also report this incident to the police.

* * *

So this is... well, Endeavor is still not well-liked. I feel with all the stuff happening around his Agency now, I needed a reminder before I go back to dealing with his work-related drama.

I hope you liked it


	38. Meeting the Heroes of Japan

What a great episode! What a great chapter! Did you see it, read it, watch it?

My Endeavor-Heart is happy!

* * *

 **Meeting the Heroes of Japan**

"Suga-san, I heard your son is a big fan of mine!"

Endeavor could already hear that obnoxious voice when he entered his agency just after noon, finishing his parole early.

"I leave you to it, Avalanche," he told his senior sidekick. "Unless something really big happens, I'll probably be occupied for the next three hours at least." He glanced at his clock.

"Sure. I'll take Shrinking Girl with me, as we agreed," the blond hero had his fur jacket that was part of his costume tied loosely around his hips. It was a surprisingly warm December morning. "Good luck with the meeting." Enji grunted a little, looking over the reception hall of the agency that was already brimming with heroes, sidekicks, and several of Enji's own employees trying to bring a little order into the chaos. "I don't really envy you," he pulled his phone out, looking at the screen, "anyways, I'm out."

"Take care," Endeavor called after him, but he was already putting his attention on the other heroes in the room.

Avalanche and Shrinking Girl would take over the patrol during the duration of the meeting.

"I could give you an autograph, what do you think, huh Suga?"

Endeavor glanced towards the reception where the Number Two hero stood, leaning over the front desk speaking with the thin man sitting there. Poor Suga was so flustered with Hawks' half-assed advances, he completely failed to concentrate on his computer desktop and whatever task he was performing there. Finally, he apparently lost his patience looking up at the hero.

"Gladly," he answered, "just leave it at the desk for me."

Hawks leaned back a little, stretching his back, spreading his wings, as if he felt stiff from the journey. He laughed brightly. "You were right, Kosuke," he exclaimed, "he's a serious one." Kosuke – Brazen stood in civilian clothes next to him, a brightly colored wool sweater, tight-fitting grey pants and a pair of flashily green sneakers. Red socks came out of his shoes, reaching all the way to his knees tucked over his pants. Hawks turned towards him. "You wanted to show me my room."

Brazen didn't speak quite as loudly as Hawks. Endeavor couldn't hear his reply, but the next moment they left for the elevators together. So, Brazen had already set out on his task to befriend the Number Two, and so far it seemed to work out. Of course, Hawks had probably just arrived and who knew how their relationship would be in another hour or so, but at least they started off well.

"No, as far as they know, the theory is that it's an accident," he heard a female voice to his left. "Yes, accidental quirk activation." He saw Mt. Lady leaning against the wall next to the door. She had her phone in her hand. "I told you, Shinji," she sounded exasperated, "we don't know yet, and it will probably take another few days until we can be sure." Shinji, he knew, was Kamui Woods' civilian name. She was probably talking to her teammate.

Endeavor turned away from her, not wanting to listen in on her phone call; although he suspected he had already heard most of it anyway.

Mandalay of the Wild Wild Pussycats sat languishing over one of the sofas in the waiting room. The Number Eight hero, Wash, stood in the middle of a group of five or six heroes, all of them talking wildly. Ms. Joke, who had come from Kumamoto to represent Ketsubutsu Academy High School, apparently enjoyed getting on Eraserhead's nerves, who sat tiredly tucked into one of the most comfortable chairs in the whole room. From where Endeavor stood, he could hear the Number Six hero, Crust, and his loud voice coming from the staircase, although he couldn't see him.

He strutted towards Suga at the front desk, who seemed a lot more productive than he had been just a minute ago when Hawks was still around. "Are we ready?" he asked.

"We're still waiting for Rocklock," he said with a quick glance on the list. "His flight is delayed a bit. But he should make it in time."

"Great," Endeavor said, although he didn't quite feel it. He soon had to step in front of all of them and tell them his plans. He really could imagine a dozen things he'd rather do. "Send them up to the meeting room in 30 minutes."

"Ya, ya," Suga answered half-heartedly. "I know." He tapped the clock next to the desk as if to show Endeavor that he hadn't forgotten about his duties.

"And if you see Ebony Fall, tell him to meet me immediately," Endeavor added with a small frown.

Suga looked up at him, then he nodded without giving Endeavor any more attitude.

Endeavor was halfway to the elevator when Mt. Lady caught up to him. "How's the investigation going?" he asked as soon as he realized who was walking beside him.

"That's what I'm here to tell you about. Since you were also at the fire, it concerns you too… Never mind you might be interested." She answered with a bright smile that seemed almost a little aggressive. "Not that it concerns you, but…knowing your situation I thought you should know."

He hesitated in his step. His situation? He looked at her with a questioning scowl on his face. She didn't continue immediately. "Well, what is it?" he demanded to know when she didn't say it immediately.

"Ah, calm down, old man," her hands raised defensively, but the disrespectful way in which she addressed him put him in an even worse mood.

The young new heroes these days… they acted as if nobody had taught them how to treat their elders. They were cocky and arrogant and had the worst manners and no respect. Kamui Woods at least was a humble person, but Mt. Lady was the worst. How they could even work together he wondered. It was the same with Mirko, he decided, and Hawks. Arrogant, self-absorbed and careless brats, all of them. He really hated that kind of attitude, and the only reason he was willing to tolerate is, was because they were at least half-way decent heroes.

 _You're one to talk!_ A cruel voice in his head whispered.

"What is it?" he demanded again, his flames flickering impatiently. They had reached the elevators and he was already pressing the button to call one of those tin cans down, and she still hadn't told him. Instead, they waited for the elevator together and when the doors opened with a quiet 'ping' she even stepped inside after him. Did she want to keep her information secret?

"It seems to have been an accidental quirk activation by a young teenager. The police are still investigating the evidence and it's not ultimately confirmed, but that is their most workable theory at the moment," she finally explained.

"So, no arson?" he asked to make sure. "Do they know the kid who likely did it?"

"They think it's one of the victims. Dying of your own quirk…" She made a face. "That must be horrible."

As she said it, a shiver ran down Endeavor's spine thinking about Touya. How horrifying that must have been. But stop! Touya had not died of his own quirk! It was not the same, it wasn't even connected.

"Why do you think I need to know?"

"It's apparently a fire-related quirk. Similar to yours, just with less firepower and more explosive expansion." She shrugged. "It has nothing to do with you, but I thought I'd warn you before the media twists it in some way to lay it at your feet."

He grunted. Fine, he could appreciate that sentiment. "Thanks for the heads up." He said it just at the moment the elevator came to a silent halt on the 21st floor.

As he stepped out, he was a bit annoyed to see the younger hero follow him still and then stay right behind him all the way to the grand meeting room where he wanted to make some final preparations for the meeting.

"The meeting only starts in half an hour," he informed her with an impatiently raised eyebrow.

"Sure," Mt. Lady hummed as she sat down on one of the chairs in the middle of the room, putting her feet on the table in front of her. Endeavor frowned at that insolence. "Don't mind me," she put her arms behind her head and leaned back into her chair, making herself comfortable.

Endeavor very much minded, but then he just shook his head going back to his front desk to sift through his notes. Every now and then he got distracted by her humming, but whenever he looked up to her, she was just staring at the ceiling as if she was counting the lightbulbs over her head.

Ebony Fall came in only a few minutes before the meeting would start. Endeavor looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You're ready?"

"I know what to say," Best Jeanist's sidekick said in a deep gravelly voice. "Not sure, why you need me to…" He cut himself short as his eyes drifted to Mt. Lady. A scowl crawled over his dark skin, then his facial features relaxed again, looking back at Endeavor just giving a silent nod.

"Good," Endeavor turned back to his papers, "sit, we'll start in a few minutes."

During the entire encounter, Mt. Lady hadn't stopped humming and staring at the wall. Now finally, she took the feet off the table, righting herself on her seat throwing a quick smile at Ebony Fall.

Slowly, one after the other, the other heroes came in. They all were in costume. Endeavor, too, wore his costume, fiery beard, mask and all. This was a hero gathering. They would all show themselves from their best side. Heroes among each other was not much different than villains among each other:

Don't show your weakness, show your skill. Your costume represents yourself and your support technicians, and disgracing yourself in front of your fellow heroes would disgrace your agency and fans. They were all rivals here, challengers for the number one position - especially now that it was so easy for the taking, compared to the tight hold All Might had on it.

It was a ridiculous parade of bright colors, flashy designs, broad smiles, and openly activated quirks. No crowd could be quite as colorful as a group of heroes as big as he had assembled in this room today.

In the back, where he could still see everybody without his great body hindering the views of others, there was Fat Gum from Mie Prefecture in his jumpsuit in different shades of yellow. Another yellow spot was Gran Torino's cape, sitting in one of the front seats representing Yamanashi Prefecture. Gang Orca came from Kanagawa Prefecture, standing against the wall a bit removed from the others, a water bottle in hand. Arms crossed, Crust, who had come from Kyoto stood not too far away from him. Wash had come with one of his sidekicks and sat next to a hero with a bright blue cape, a punk hairstyle and scaled skin. Rocklock had taken a seat in the first row, halfway between Gran Torino and Ryukyu.

Detective Tsukauchi came to represent the police. There were four officials from some of the biggest hospitals in Japan. Backdraft had come not just as a hero but also as a firefighter; and Eraser Head, Ms. Joke, and four other heroes had come from the six biggest hero schools of the country.

All in all, fifty heroes had arrived from 47 prefectures of Japan, another five or so just from Musutafu. Including officials from the emergency services, representatives of the schools and some of Endeavor's own employees handing out drinks and snacks, there were almost 80 people in the grand meeting hall, and the space was just barely enough to fit them all in. This room was designed to hold up to 100 people, but several of the heroes had odd shapes and sizes due to their quirks and needed space for two or carried around so many support items they needed a second seat to place them on.

"Thanks for showing the way," he heard Hawks' cheerful voice, before the Winged Hero entered with a broad smile, waving to somebody behind himself – probably Brazen – as his wings weakly knocked against the doorframe. He didn't look up at Endeavor, just threw a quick glance at the people in the front, without so much as acknowledging the top hero. Instead, he grinned widely into the room, greeting the whole assembled group of heroes with a bored wave of his hand.

"What an impressive sight," he warbled happily, "so many heroes in a single room. There's no place ever as safe as this room."

"Just take your damn seat, brat!" Gang Orca grumbled as the Number Two passed him.

It only served to broaden the Number Two's smile. With defensively raised hands, he took a seat somewhere in the back rows of the room, next to a female hero with long black hair reaching all the way to her ankles that she had wrapped it around herself and her seat. When he briefly spread his wings making himself comfortable, he brushed against her hair, which quickly recoiled from being touched.

Endeavor waited a few more minutes, before he sent most of his employees out of the room, the last of them closing the door behind themselves. It was time to start the meeting.

"Welcome to Musutafu, and thank you for coming together at such short notice," he started, making the greeting as short as possible. He had neither the time nor muse for a lengthy welcome.

There was some muttering in response, but most of his fellow heroes stayed quiet. He could only make out Rocklock's actual words: "Not like we had much of a choice," he muttered. The black hero sat in the first row and was thus easily audible to Endeavor. He glared at the Number One with clear dislike. Endeavor didn't remember ever really working together with the man, so his dislike had to stem from recent events.

Well, that had to be expected, that the current scandal around Endeavor's name would not pass his colleagues by. He was sure several of them had strong opinions of him, so he was just thankful they at least let him speak.

"After Fukuoka, I wanted to call you all together sooner," he continued, searching to find Hawks' eyes, but the young hero was too short, and his face was hidden behind the man sitting in front of him. Endeavor could only see Hawks' wings. "But things came in between and—"

"I bet," he heard Rocklock mutter, and somebody else laughed nervously in his vicinity.

"…it never really came to be. Now, the situation has again changed, and I believe it is tantamount, that we finally meet and structure our joint effort fighting the League of Villains and the overall surge of villainy in Japan."

"Well spoken," Crust cheered, but then his mood shifted, "but is it not hypocritical, this coming from you of all people?"

Some heroes agreed audibly, approval being muttered left and right.

"Yeah, you're the main reason for this surge, Endeavor! And we all have to deal with it!" Rocklock exclaimed looking around himself, to indicate his fellow heroes. "Maybe just giving up your license would-"

"Shut up," Gang Orca interrupted with a loud voice. He glared at the crowd. "You have a point, but this is not the right setting to address this."

"If not here, where else?" somebody asked angrily. "It's not like we have much opportunity to speak to Mister Top Hero over there. He's a disgrace to our—"

"Then tell him after this meeting or write a letter for all I care," Orca demanded. He crossed his arms glaring at the hero who had spoken up, then turning his angry glare at Endeavor that the Flame Hero was sure that Gang Orca had his fair share to say himself. "But we're here to discuss a problem that has plagued this country since before this recent information about Endeavor hit the news."

"That's right!" It was Mandalay who stood up, her voice hardly rising over the humming and muttering of the crowd surrounding her, but she used her quirk to make herself heard by every single person in the room. "The League of Villains has done their evil work even before All Might retired. I should know." The words seemed to hit a nerve. Mandalay's team had been attacked while working with UA to train the first years. One of her teammates had been kidnapped and lost her quirk. Most of the people in the room knew at least some of what had happened to Ragdoll. It was a cruel fate for any hero to lose their quirk. How could you even be a hero after something like that? After losing your power – what made you powerful.

 _I'd rather die fighting._

"If this meeting can help us coordinate a joint effort against the League," the Wild Wild Pussycat continued, "it's worth it, to at least listen to what he has to say."

What she said, seemed to calm the crowd down at least enough for Endeavor to continue.

"Thank you," Endeavor said, looking at her, quite grateful that he hadn't had to scream for his colleagues' attention. "So far, that was something we never really tried."

"What about Kamino Ward?" somebody asked.

"It was simply a reaction to a prior attack by the League of Villains. The cooperation between agencies on this scale back then was unprecedented and was terminated after the event," Endeavor said, looking at Gran Torino and Tsukauchi in turn, who both had been a major factor in setting up that team. Back then, the whole idea had grated Endeavor the wrong way. He hadn't liked having to team up with so many top heroes, never mind All Might.

"True, it was simply a reaction," Gran Torino thought out loud. "You want to be more proactive?"

Endeavor didn't answer immediately. "It's similar to what happened not too long ago, during the battle against the Shie Hassaikai, when the late Sir Nighteye called together a group of heroes." He glanced at Rocklock and Fat Gum shortly. "But that too, just like my own though coincidental cooperation with Hawks in Fukuoka was swiftly terminated after the event. During the latter two incidents, the heroes working together were even from many different prefectures, normally working in completely different areas of Japan. While the experiences gained there can be quite important in the future, they are not exactly useful in dealing with a sudden Noumu attack. After all, the members of these team-ups operate far away from each other and may never team up again. Or at least not for a long time."

The humming of the crowd had increased in a sudden rage when he suggested that these team-ups might have been useless, but it quieted down again almost immediately, as they understood what he was saying.

"What I mean is that in the event that… say a Noumu attacks Musutafu, it will not help me much against that Noumu, that I have experience fighting with Hawks at my side. What would be far more useful, is if I knew how to work with the other heroes in my immediate vicinity."

"Then maybe you should be more open to cooperating with your neighbor's," Ms. Joke laughed. "Everybody knows how uptight you are, wanting to do everything yourself."

Mt. Lady laughed approvingly.

He couldn't even be mad. Ms. Joke right. He was notorious for doing everything by himself, he was a loner that way. But…

"Of course," he agreed, "but the problem is not only mine alone. There are no joint training sessions or team-efforts in hardly any prefecture of Japan. As I worked to compile this list of whom to invite, I realized that 21 out of the 48 prefectures don't even have the manpower to deal with a Noumu as powerful as the one who arrived in Fukuoka."

There was enraged muttering.

"Ey, Endeavor!" Crust roared, "how can you be so disrespectful to your fellow heroes!?" He pointed at Endeavor with an enraged frown on his face. "That's so cruel! We're all doing our best."

"Not everybody can be a monster like yourself," Ryukyu agreed neutrally.

"Kanagawa will be fine!" Mt. Lady proclaimed proudly. "We have the strongest heroes." She grinned in Gang Orca's direction who was from the same prefecture she now worked at with Team Lurkers.

"Right," Endeavor agreed, picking up Mt. Lady's train of thought. "At the moment, Kanagawa is in my own opinion the only prefecture, that I am sure can, in fact, deal with a sudden Noumu attack. Edgeshot's team, the Lurkers, is powerful enough that they should be able to do the job. But even Kanagawa lacks the infrastructure to ensure that the evacuation, emergency vehicles and the actual fighting work in tandem together. The cooperation of the heroes of Kanagawa only reaches as far as the members and sidekicks of Team Lurkers. During grand-scale attacks like the ones in Hosu, Kamino Ward, or Fukuoka recently, it still happens way too often that heroes work by themselves or go their own ways, that the evacuation and the rescuers get in the way of the fighting and the other way around, that emergency services are not used to their fullest extent. Just remember the Hosu incident. Although we all surely did our job correctly and called in the important details, still, nobody knew where the hero killer was despite having first been engaged in a fight all the way at the start of the catastrophe. Nobody seemed to be aware of myself or Gran Torino being in town, despite myself calling in as soon as I had arrived. Several student interns went missing throughout the event and one of the Noumu could get away from the other two and the heroes fighting them without any hero able to follow." He looked around the crowd seeing understanding faces. "While we could thankfully get the situation under control eventually, it was, for lack of a better word – a mess. And that is a problem we constantly face during large scale attacks."

"It's not easy to handle," Gran Torino said quietly. "Better communication, of course, that is important, but we're trying to get a hang on that since back when _I_ was still a student."

"That is because we are using police networks as soon as we get involved in a case," Endeavor replied. "Just like with the fire recently: I got a call from my agency, that my help was requested, I went to the scene, there I had to ask for the radio signal the emergency services at the scene were using. Why was I not called directly? Why did I have to ask for the radio signal? All of this takes time, but it is standard procedure almost everywhere." He turned a projector on that showed three series of numbers on the Whiteboard behind his head. "Currently, as there is no joint hero effort, we just use the police's communication system or private systems of individual agencies, but I think it's time to start our own nationwide communication network." He pointed at the three numbers projected onto the whiteboard. "This will be an emergency line that will be open 24/7. A secure line only used by heroes for the single purpose of coordinating joint large-scale events in Musutafu city. This second line will do the same for the prefecture of Musutafu and immediate surrounding areas, and this last number will do the same for all of Japan. I will have employees monitoring these lines at all times and I will demand that every hero in Musutafu and in all of Japan will have at least one ear on this broadcast at all times. Do it yourself or ask a sidekick or intern to do it. I would suggest you set up similar numbers in your own prefectures."

"Wouldn't those numbers be flooded with calls immediately making them ultimately useless?" a hero with a costume designed like a traffic sign asked, frowning.

"That's why we'll have to use them restrictively and within the next few weeks we will have to perfect the process." Endeavor frowned, looking from one hero to the next. "So far, there was no effort made by anybody to coordinate the many heroes of Japan. We are way too fractured. It is thanks to the police that sometimes, we build teams for uniquely difficult cases, but in general all of us, we're working alone."

He looked down at his hands. It was his own failure, he realized that brought them to this place. He couldn't quite suppress the heavy sigh passing his throat.

"In recent years, All Might who was our symbol of peace almost single-handedly upheld the order in this country. We've all been too complacent within this system, waiting for All Might to do his work and simply cleaning up after him." It hurt to speak these words. He had tried so hard… Even back when All Might was still an active hero, he had worked relentlessly to catch up to him, to not just live in his shadow, but even he had ultimately not managed to dig himself out of it. "Now, All Might is gone, many villains join forces, building powerful groups like the League of Villains, and we have not yet found a way to counter that."

"You're the Number One Hero!" somebody blurted into the silence that Endeavor had created through his words. "Shouldn't that be your job. We're trying our best!"

"No, you're not!" Endeavor retorted angrily. He shouldn't have said that he realized it immediately, but it was something that had bugged him for years.

Why was he the only one who worked relentlessly to match All Might? Surpass him even? Why had so many people – heroes, fans, officials – even ridiculed him for his single-minded obsession?

He knew now, the way he'd gone about it was wrong, but…

 _Why was I the only one who had even tried?_

Immediately the room erupted into chaos. Insults and indignations were thrown at him, a few heroes took his side and threw insults back. Arguments came from everywhere.

"You're one to talk!" somebody screamed, "when did you actually put any effort into trying to be a good hero, huh?"

"Never mind a good person!" Rocklock cried out.

"Shut up, he's right!"

"You're a disgrace! We'd do far better without you!"

"Either we try harder or we all go down!"

"Washer wash wa-"

It was a cacophony of voices, yells, and odd sounds.

"QUIET!" Endeavor bellowed, this time not willing to wait for Mandalay to calm the group down. His flames surged in anger shining brighter than the light bulbs at the ceiling.

The crowd immediately shut up. Some eyed him warily, thinking he was about to attack, others frowned displeased, and some just looked relieved that at least somebody had managed to quiet the chaos.

"You haven't done enough! I haven't done enough! Because we're all still trying to do it alone! Some of us want to be the hero to bring down Shigaraki Tomura personally, don't lie!" Mirko wasn't here, but she had proudly proclaimed that only weaklings would team up with other heroes, and he was sure she was not the only one to think that way. He himself thought that way. "Some of us are too afraid to face them and simply hope that whenever they attack, there will be some stronger hero to take care of business." And why wouldn't they be afraid? The Noumu were terrifying, even for him. "Some realized they had to team up with others, and they handpicked more sidekicks and fellow heroes in their neighborhood, but they still don't put the effort in to coordinate with the rest of the heroes in their prefecture." He glanced around still seeing adversity in their faces although an increasing number of them seemed to reluctantly agree.

Mt. Lady on her seat in the middle of the room looked petulantly enraged.

"Mt. Lady?" Endeavor spoke to her directly. "You're a member of Team Lurkers now. Should Yokohama be attacked by a Noumu, who will fight the Noumu?"

"My team, of course," she proclaimed proudly, hitting the surface of her desk with a clenched fist. "Team Lurkers. We can handle a Noumu." Endeavor didn't doubt it, although even that team would have trouble with an opponent of the same abilities as the one, he had faced in Fukuoka.

"You are currently not in Yokohama," he reminded her. "You haven't been for the better part of a week, if I'm informed correctly."

She sputtered in surprise. Then she said somewhat meekly: "Kamui and Edgeshot can take care of it still."

Endeavor sighed. "Good, let's say a week from now. You're back in Yokohama, you are fighting with them. Who leads the evacuation effort?"

Mt. Lady looked somewhat surprised by the question. She looked around questioningly. "We have many other powerful heroes in Kanagawa," she said, "Gang Orca could deal with the evacuation."

Endeavor nodded looking at the Number Eleven hero. "Are you aware you were delegated to evacuation duties in your own prefecture in case of a large-scale attack?"

"I was not," the hero answered simply.

Mt. Lady looked somewhat embarrassed. "Well, it's obvious isn't it? Edgeshot, Kamui and I, we've trained a lot. We work smoothly together."

Endeavor looked through the crowd with a raised eyebrow. Understanding seemed to finally dawn on them.

"I am the Number One Hero," Endeavor said quietly, but since nobody else was saying anything, his voice easily carried through the room. "As such, it should have been my job to take up All Might's mantle. But the last few weeks proved to me that I cannot do that. If you want me to just keep trying and be a second All Might, I may try, but I will fail. After I fail, will you demand the same of Hawks, who is only 22 years old? Of Best Jeanist, who has just recovered from a severe injury never mind that we don't even know where he is?" He glanced at Hawks in the crowd. The man sitting before him had lowered his head a little, so that Endeavor could now see the Number Two's wide-eyed stare. Endeavor was a bit put off by the shock on Hawks' face, then Hawks seemed to realize that Endeavor was not the only one looking at him. He made a show of languishing in his seat, spreading his wings, looking unconcerned, trying to seem as if the prospect of having that burden placed upon him did not bother him the slightest.

"AH!" Crust's booming voice suddenly distracted everybody, shifting their eyes from the Number Two hero to the Number Six. "What a heartfelt confession! What is it you want us to do, Endeavor?"

"We can hardly train with every single hero in our prefecture," Gang Orca grunted.

"No, we cannot. But at any given time, we should at least be aware of which hero is in the vicinity close to us. So far, we've been lucky with the timing of the attacks. During each Noumu attack, there was at least one top three hero close-by. We cannot rely on that luck in the future." He glanced around the crowd. "Therefore I want each and every hero to know at any given time, which other hero is close-by, on whose support they can count on, who in their vicinity – if alone or in a group – would be able to deal with a Noumu, and whose job it will be to focus on evacuation and rescue. For those prefectures who do not have the manpower to deal with a large-scale attack, I want there to be an emergency plan of how to detain the villain and the damage of the fight to a minimum until backup from a neighboring prefecture can arrive. Ideally, I want that should a large-scale attack happen anywhere in Japan, every hero in the vicinity knows immediately what their job is in handling the situation."

"That will be close to impossible," Tsukauchi argued quietly. "Too many heroes travel all across Japan without, leaving their prefecture, taking cases outside of their agency's vicinity, getting injured…"

"We'll have to do the best we can," Mandalay stated simply.

They argued over the details of the plan for a while, before Endeavor changed the subject to the next big bullet point for the meeting.

"We've now talked a lot about how to react and coordinate during villain attacks," he continued, "but it seems clear that we cannot just leave it at that. We need to finally get a handle on the League of Villains, to curb this new surge of villainy." He looked at Tsukauchi and Ebony Fall. "For that purpose, I think it is necessary to bring you all into the fold as regards to the current investigation. Much of it is classified, and we cannot risk for the knowledge to leave this room, but I would ask Detective Tsukauchi to give at least a brief overview over the League of Villains and the current progress of the investigation. We also need to talk about the disappearance of Best Jeanist."

"What does Best Jeanist's disappearance…?" Crust started asking, but then he cut himself off. "Don't tell me, they hurt another one of our best?"

He always had a thing for dramatics, Endeavor knew. But he didn't focus too much on Crust.

This now… this would hurt. He had spoken to Tsukauchi before and it now seemed an obvious choice, that they had to finally share the information that Dabi was, in fact, his son. Not with the public quite yet, but his fellow heroes. He had asked Ebony Fall to start giving his information on Best Jeanist first before Tsukauchi could start with his explanations. He feared, after Dabi's true identity was revealed, nobody would be as willing to listen to Endeavor as quietly as they were now.

* * *

Hawks! I finally managed to let him appear. Next chapter will focus a bit more on him, but the problem still remains... he's difficult to place into the story, even now that he made his first appearance.

This chapter was super hard to write for me, because there suddenly were so many characters to handle that I tried to write as in-character as I possibly could. The chapter also got a bit longer because of that.

I tried to put a bit of thought into how different characters would react to Endeavor now. If you feel like I misrepresented a character or like he would react differently, tell me. :D I mostly just wrote these characters the way I remembered them being from scenes in the manga. With most of them I just guessed. Anyway, here is a quick rundown of some of these characters and how and why they react the way they do:

Mt. Lady: She is in my eyes a bit of a ... materialistic hero. That may be a harsh word, but I think she more than many other heroes represents the type of hero who just really enjoys the fame. I don't think that she's a bad person or anything, so that might sound a bit negative, I actually don't have anything against her. However while I think she might have been shocked at the initial information about what happened within the Todoroki family, but she's not making a big deal out of it. She's also active in the Musutafu area. While she changed her base of operation to Yokohama - where she's working with Edgeshot now - she still does a lot of work in Musutafu and has a lot of connection there. So she's locally right at the center of this whole scandal, and I think at this point she has enough of it. While many of the other heroes work far away, and see Endeavor for the first time, for her the scandal is already somewhat 'old news'.

Gang Orca: I made him into the voice of reason. He likes kids and he's absolutely appalled by what Endeavor did, but he's also able to deal with it professionally seeing that this is not the right time or place to just throw insults at each other, but to work effectively. He knows that this whole situation reflects bad on hero society and he's trying to work with the situation as well as he can.

Rocklock: Since one of the few things I know about him, is that he is a father, I made him one of the most enraged heroes at this meeting. So he's absolutely disgusted with Endeavor. I also remember him as somebody not trying to hold back with his opinion, so I used him to portray the heroes who loudly rage against Endeavor.

Crust: Crust was a bit...in the middle. He seems a very principled and 'chivalrous' (almost) type, who is directly stating what he thinks. So Crust does not like what he found out about Endeavor, and he doesn't hold back with his opinion on that side. However Crust also somewhat respects Endeavor for actually being a good hero and putting his life on the line. So he's a bit ambiguous but without putting a lot of reflection behind it.

In general, I think the heroes have as negative opinions about Endeavor as the media, but they are more professional about it. I also wanted to stop just portraying his 'critiques' as a 'hive mind'. In a similar way of how the members of his agency have differing opinions about him. the members of the public or his fellow heroes have too. It's just that as long as I don't get to focus on them, it seems very ... 'hive-mind...y'.


	39. The Winged Hero

Hi,

first a bit of a warning. This is a bit of a patchwork in terms of the 'Beta reading process', which I don't really want to talk to much about, just in case you keep wondering "huh why is the second half so full of mistakes", that's why. I hope you like it anyway.

* * *

 **The Winged Hero**

He could already smell the confusion in the room. Ebony Fall had talked about Best Jeanist's situation without revealing everything they had gathered. This allowed the heroes to come to their own conclusion. And the traitor, if there was one, would hopefully not know the state of their investigation, yet. After Ebony Fall had finished, Tsukauchi talked about the League of Villains, and what they knew about the organization. He discussed their objectives, the leaders, the members and finally, Dabi. He kept Dabi for last – probably to keep the listeners' attention for as long as possible. The moment Dabi's true identity got out, there would be no stopping the wave of questions, anger, and dismay.

"Dabi's quirk does not make himself immune to his own abilities," Tsukauchi continued. "In fact, just using the quirk for just a short time will hurt him."

At this point, he had already explained almost everything Endeavor told him and the police about Touya's quirk. His fellow heroes sat in the room, looking at each other questioningly. Some of them were mouthing questions towards each other, others were just making surprised faces.

"After long use, it is likely that he will overheat or even damage his own body, possibly permanently. Therefore," the detective suggested, "if you should come upon him and you cannot find a way to take him down yourself, the time is on your side. The longer you battle him, the more likely he is to take himself out, even if you cannot do it. Of course, as his quirk is highly destructive, you must find a way to minimize the damage he does in that short time." He paused, looking around. "Are there any questions regarding the workings of his quirk?"

The room remained silent for a moment. Endeavor could hear some whispers in the back without being able to make out the words. Then Gang Orca spoke up: "Not about the quirk, no," he said calmly, then he frowned questioningly. "But, if I may ask, where did we get this much information on him?" He looked around his fellow heroes, then back at the detective. "Up until recently, the only thing we knew about him was that he had a fire quirk."

"That is correct," Tsukauchi answered, glancing at Endeavor before turning back to the assembled heroes. "We have recently learned a lot of new information on the villain known as Dabi. Most of this information came from Endeavor and the official registry after we found out his real name."

Endeavor held his breath as the anticipation made his nerves flutter. This would be it. After this, there would be no turning back…

He was being stupid, he knew. Sharing this information or not, it would not make Dabi's true identity any more or less real. Touya was Dabi, a villain who had tried to kill him. That was a fact. Whether it remained secret or not, it would not change. Yet, still… he felt, like sharing the truth gave credence to it, made it somehow more real. Just like sometimes, he thought, if he could just forget, if he could have remained ignorant it would be less real. So far the only people he had told aside from his family were the police officers involved with investigating the League of Villains. Then there were, of course, the colleagues from UA and students of 1 A who Shoto had told. But that was it. Now, Tsukauchi was about to reveal it to a whole room filled with 80 heroes who would soon share it with just about every hero in Japan. After that, it was only a question of time…

"Dabi's true name," Tsukauchi continued after a while, "is Touya Todoroki. He is the first-born—"

He didn't get any further than that As in that moment the room erupted into chaos. Heroes jumped from their seats, quirks flared threateningly in a mixture of surprise and anger. Questions and exclamations were thrown around widely. In the front, Tsukauchi stood with a pinched expression, waiting for the storm to pass so he could continue. Of course, it didn't pass. Endeavor, who sat to the side and a bit away from the others, could increasingly hear demands for him to explain himself.

"He is dead!", some yelled, "he committed suicide, it was all over the news."

"Did he try to attack his brother in UA?"

"Explain yourself!"

"How could this happen?"

"Since when do you know, Endeavor?"

"It makes sense, their quirks are similar."

"He murdered five thieves in Nagasaki. Burnt them to a crisp, from what I heard."

"What did you do to him?"

"So, was he trying to murder Endeavor in Fukuoka? Is that the reason?"

"How dare you keep this information from us…for how long?"

It was maddening. He was getting headaches just from the cacophony of voices screaming, yelling and crying out to him. Some of them had pencils or phones or the edge of their tables in a tight hold as if it was a weapon and he was suddenly reminded that to some of them – with whatever quirk they had – a phone or pen or table might even be an effective weapon.

One of them who could detach his hands from his arm made the beginning. The single hand – with no body attached to it – grabbed onto his shoulder protection to shake him in anger. Annoyed, he ripped the hand away from himself, pressing it hard with his right until the fingers moved in a way to suggest the hero felt at least a little pain. Then somebody threw a piece of apple, one of the snacks his staff had offered earlier. Instinctively Endeavor caught the piece of food and had it burned to a black chunk of coal.

He shot up from his seat in anger banging his hand – that was still holding the detached hand – on the desk and glared at them. His flames were surging bright and hot and he could feel the detached hand in his trying to get away. He let go of it.

"As soon as you can shut up, I will explain what happened!" He roared over the angered shouts and insults. His voice was booming over the assembled mass, but it only quieted them for a moment or two, then they started screaming and shouting again. Frustrated, he let his flames shoot even higher, but it didn't help.

"Endeavor?" He whirled around almost grabbing Tsukauchi at the collar in an instinctual and defensive fury before he even recognized him. "You should leave," the detective suggested as Endeavor tried to calm himself down by actively regulating his breath. "I think it would be easier if you just let me explain."

He shook his head jerkily. "I should explain," he said because he knew that was right. It was his story to explain.

But the detective only shrugged. "Maybe, but they won't listen to you."

Endeavor glared at him but then after a while, he relented. Tsukauchi was right. "I'm right outside," he muttered stiffly.

"Yeah, run and hide!" Somebody screamed after him. "Come back you coward!" He heard somebody else, but then the door fell shut and although he could still hear them deafeningly behind the door, it was much more difficult now, to make out words and sentences.

"What happened?" Brazen leaned against the opposite side of the corridor. One foot was against the wall, leaving a stain where his shoe touched the tapestry.

Endeavor glared at him, but it wasn't Brazen's fault with what had happened. With another deep breath, he finally got his flames back under control. He shrugged. "They did not take it well."

Brazen looked at him questioningly, then he just shrugged. He took his foot from the wall, though he still slouched a bit. "I guess, that was to be expected."

Endeavor followed him to one of the smaller rooms nearby.

"How are you getting along with Hawks?" He asked as soon as he closed the door.

Brazen strolled towards the table and sat down on the comfortable swivel chair. He tried putting his feet up on the round conference table, but the chair turned at the movement. He put his feet back down again after that. Embarrassed, he turned to Endeavor.

"Stop playing around," Endeavor growled.

"I think we get along well. He is my favorite hero after all," Brazen finally answered. He leaned back in his chair, making himself comfortable.

"And?"

"And he was so kind as to give me enough autographs that, if this Agency goes down, I could still feed myself for two months just by selling them."

Frustrated, Endeavor's fire beard and mustache flared a little. "Stop joking around."

"I can't tell you anything else, yet," Brazen answered truthfully. "I've only known him for a few hours now, and while he does not ever shut up, we didn't talk about the Nomu or the League or anything of note at all."

"What impression do you have of him?"

"I like him. And I think he's a fan of yours."

That gave Endeavor pause. "A Fan of mine," he repeated. All he remembered was Hawks trying to annoy him into an early grave. Endeavor never interacted much with his Fans, but whenever he did, there were essentially two types. Some were awestruck to the point of hardly bringing out half a sentence, and some were exactly the opposite, vying for their idol's intention and respect. Hawks was not like that.

"I can't be sure," Brazen muttered, "I can ask him, of course. But he had that look in his eyes when I showed him around the agency. Like it's the coolest thing ever." His eyebrows furrowed a little trying to remember. "I thought it was odd for somebody who has his own agency and is one of the greatest heroes in the country. However," Brazen's frown deepened. "I don't know, it's hard to put a finger on it, but he's odd."

"Odd?" Endeavor mirrored Brazen's frown. Odd was one way to describe Hawks.

"As I said, I don't know what it is… And maybe it's only because I am trying to look for hints that he is or may know something about a traitor, but he may just be putting on a show." His fingers were drumming a quick rhythm against the top of the table. "He's a good liar, that's for sure."

"He lied to you?" What reason would Hawks have to lie if they never spoke about anything important?

"Not really, but whenever he says something half-way serious, I can never tell whether he means it or not. Sometimes he's just joking around and sometimes he means it, but I only know which is which when and if he reveals it."

Endeavor nodded. Brazen was right. That deduction seemed in line with his own impression of Hawks, and in fact, if during their first meeting they hadn't moved on to fight side by side and safe Fukuoka together, maybe he would have been more inclined to distrust Hawks from the start precisely for that reason.

"To be honest, I'm a bit surprised you two got along at all," Brazen continued after a moment. "He's the complete opposite of you. He's funny and a really nice guy," Endeavor scowled at that, "he's very talkative, curious, a bit lazy if you ask me…" Brazen shrugged completely at ease with the way Endeavor scowled at him. "But you're honest. And I'm not so sure about him."

It was at that moment that a particularly loud voice drifted through the walls to them. During their entire conversation, they had still been able to hear the noises from the room on the other side of the corridor, but now, Crust's voice was booming through the walls, even though it was still difficult to understand what he was saying.

"I think they would disagree with you," Endeavor muttered somewhat miffed, but Brazen simply shrugged again.

"That doesn't really matter."

Fifteen minutes later, Tsukauchi apparently decided that everything important had been said and done and Endeavor entering the room again would not serve any purpose other than riling up his fellow heroes again. At least that's Endeavor thought the detective might have thought because he simply ended the meeting without consulting Endeavor further. Truth be told, Endeavor was a bit thankful for that, and truthfully he didn't have anything else to say.

Brazen was swiveling lazily on his chair, while Endeavor stood in the door seeing his fellow heroes depart. Some of them glared at him, others ignored him completely as they walked past, others again where so engrossed in conversation, they didn't even see him as they left. Eraserhead looked at him for a second as he walked by with Ms. Joke following close behind him. He nodded shortly then he turned to follow the other heroes to the elevators.

"It's over," Brazen stated the obvious as he finally stood from his chair to move next to Brazen. "You want me to go back to doing what I have been doing?" The way he stated it so ominously made Endeavor scowl in annoyance, but he nodded, anyway. "Then I'll go looking for my charge. Did he already fly by?"

Endeavor just let the younger hero stay where he was while he went to join Tsukauchi and Ebony Fall back in the meeting room. The two men stood muttering quietly to each other in one corner of the big room. There were still some other heroes, who hadn't left the room yet. Some of them jumped up and hurried to leave as soon as they saw Endeavor enter, but others just remained talking among each other. Among others, Hawks stood in the back of the room only glancing at Endeavor shortly, before turning back to his conversation with Gang Orca.

"How did it go?" He asked Tsukauchi.

"As you would expect," the detective answered. "I think they mostly calmed down…" Endeavor hardly listened to the rest of what he said. His eyes drifted back to Hawks. Was Brazen right? Was he dishonest and thus a possible candidate for a traitor? Now, that he thought about it, he had illuminated Hawks as a suspect almost immediately just based on the fact that during the fight, Hawks had worked well with him, and without his help, Endeavor might not have survived the day. But what if it had been for show, or some other purpose, Endeavor didn't know yet?

"I can't say for sure, they won't leak the information to the press, though," Tsukauchi's last words made their way through to Endeavor.

"Wouldn't it be better if I just made it public, then?" Endeavor suggested somewhat distracted.

"It would probably be better for your public approval ratings," Tsukauchi answered thoughtfully.

"They are already down, anyway," Endeavor reminded him. "What would be the best course of action if we disregard that?"

"I'd wait for another few days. By Thursday the decisions and knowledge we shared today would have made its way to every hero of Japan. It would be best to withhold the information until then." Endeavor finally looked back at him, seeing him scowl in deep thought. "There's a certain risk that as soon as we come out to the public, we will also push the League to react in some way. It would be preferable if we could push that off until a time when we can deal with it."

Endeavor nodded not really caring one way or the other. "There's a danger that the information will reach the media before that," he said.

"Correct," Tsukauchi sounded unhappy.

Endeavor simply nodded, then he excused himself to go to Hawks before he could leave. By now, Gang Orca had left the room with a short "Goodbye" to Tsukauchi, Endeavor and Ebony Fall.

Hawks didn't look at him, as he walked up to him. It infuriated Endeavor that he wouldn't even look at him. Did he feel betrayed too, because of everything that had been revealed today and in the last few weeks? Could he not look him in the eye for that reason? And if he was, in fact, a traitor, should it not be the other way around?

Endeavor pushed the thought away. He did not know that. For now, he had as little reason to suspect Hawks as he had the members of his agency.

"What are you doing in Fukuoka?" he asked gruffly, annoyed at the lack of reaction from Hawks's side.

"Hm?" Hawks answered distractedly still not looking up.

"The media says you've been on patrol less and less over the last weeks." And wasn't that suspicious? "As far as I know, we are not yet at a time when 'heroes have too much time to spare'" he said quoting Hawks's own words from their last meeting. "What the—"

"And who's fault is that?" Hawks hissed angrily glaring up at him. He seemed to regret it immediately. Suddenly he almost shied away, as if Endeavor had physically punched him. "Sorry," he grunted turning back to the papers on the table that he was absently sorting through, "I didn't mean to…"

"I don't care," Endeavor growled. "Just get back out on the street. People need to see you."

The Winged Hero tucked his head a little, then he shifted around, his feathers rustled with his movement. Suddenly he laughed audibly, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, yeah, sorry," he laughed, "I just had a lot on my mind, recently."

As he turned around to finally really look at Endeavor, the Flame Hero could see it clearly. There were circles under his eyes. "And you should get some sleep," he added gruffly.

"Aw, don't say you're worried about me." Hawks eyes curved as he smiled, but the smile seemed strained. It wasn't the first time, Endeavor realized, that Hawks smiled like that.

Brazen was right… The younger hero was difficult to get.

"Just do it!" Endeavor bellowed halfway between embarrassed and annoyed.

"Will do," Hawks declared grabbing his stack of papers and turning towards the door abruptly. "Thankfully, your sidekick showed me to my room already. Really, I tell you, the bed looks like the most comfortable thing I've slept in my whole life." He wasn't even looking at Endeavor anymore as he started talking about his room in the agency.

Frowning, Endeavor looked after him. It almost looked as if Hawks was not just avoiding him, but running away from him.

"I bet, Brazen is already waiting for me," Hawks chippered, "see ya, old man."

With a final wave of the hand, he was out of the door and Endeavor was left alone in the room.

* * *

So, this is the first actual chapter focused on Hawks... and since he's going back to Fukuoka soon... it will also be the only one for now... However to make up for this, I have written a Hawks POV chapter for "I'm watching!" that I will upload sometime this week. (This one will even reveal something new, that is... _somewhat_ important to this story.

So, I wish you all a Happy Easter and hope you're doing fine in these weird times.


	40. Discharged

Wow, chapter 40!

This chapter took forever to find a title for. I'm still not entirely happy with the title, but at least it is better than my Work in progress title: "Information gained from electronic devices" XD Well, I hope you enjoy it. This week there is apparently no Mha chapter which... I'm very sad about - how am I to spend my lockdown without my weekly MHA chapter!?

Also recently I've started using my Tumblr and Twitter Accounts more frequently (mostly to upload my crappy fanart :D). I thought that maybe if some of my readers were to follow me there I could share work-in-progress's and information if I need a bit longer for updates, maybe even some art of my OC's if I ever get around to draw them, etc. So follow me on tumblr ceies and/or twitter TCeies .

Lastly... My semester starts again tomorrow. Of course, I'm still in lockdown but I'll have to structure my schedule accordingly so I get enough time in to learn. So, I hope I can maintain the schedule but there may be some delay.

Now, enjoy!

* * *

 **Discharged**

"The batteries are empty!"

Suddenly, the door to his office banged open and a man in his mid-thirties still wearing his white lab coat, strolled into the room. Endeavor looked up, shocked by the sudden intrusion. He sat at his new desk, signing a stack of papers Inari had given him this morning. Most of the papers were related to the finances of the agency. They had decided on a new and bigger budget dedicated to hero cooperation. He signed off on it without really reading the details, because he trusted Inari and the employees responsible for the budget plan to do their job well.

He had left the meeting with the other heroes a short while ago and wanted to get home as quickly as possible – hoping that Irina had by then taken care of the red paint on his front door. Now, instead of being able to leave quickly, Hagane Atsushi strolled into his office waving the remains of the Todoroki security system in his hand.

Hagane mostly dealt with repairs and the investigation of broken equipment. Normally, whenever Endeavor's or his sidekick's support items broke in a way they were not supposed to, Endeavor would send the damaged items to Hagane to check for failures in the material and investigate what had caused the damage. Although checking Enji's private security system normally wouldn't fall within his job description, Endeavor had still sent him the remains after he had so unprofessionally ripped the casing apart.

"Huh?" Endeavor asked. He had hardly understood whatever the man had blurted out when he came in.

"The batteries," the dark-skinned man waved with the casing. He placed it on the desk in front of Endeavor with a broad grin. "You told me to come as soon as I found out what is wrong with it. The batteries are empty."

Frowning doubtfully, Endeavor first glanced at the ruined electric device, then at Hagane. The man was only 38 years old, but he already had all grey – almost white hair – curling over his forehead and brown eyes. The rough stubbles around his mouth and chin was also of a dirty greyish color. It made him look old.

"The batteries," Endeavor asked in disbelief, "are empty?" Had he been so distracted that he didn't realize that before he went to bed on Saturday? It seemed ridiculous.

"You don't understand." There was a broad smile on Hagane's almost square face. "They are empty. Really empty."

Endeavor shook his head, not quite understanding. "So, they are _really_ empty?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Hagane mirrored his raised eyebrow. He took one of the chairs standing around the little coffee table and dragged it towards the desk, sitting down in front of Endeavor. "Normally with this system, the batteries wouldn't completely discharge like that. As soon as they reach somewhere between 5-10%, the system would shut off just about all non-necessary functions apart from memory functions. It'd also ring a rather obnoxious alarm sound to let you know to charge the batteries again."

Endeavor nodded, finally understanding. "I didn't hear such a sound last night."

"Of course you didn't. The system is smart enough to warn you if the batteries aren't sufficient to last an entire night. It's also connected to your phone, home computer, and even your computer here at the agency. It would have sent an alarm to all three devices to charge its batteries on Saturday noon if it didn't have enough power to last the night." Hagane pressed a button on the side of the casing. The small screen lit up light blue. "You did ruin the casing, but it's mostly still functional," he explained when Endeavor looked surprised, that the system still worked at all. "I recharged it to check the memory. Normally everything that happens to the device, including battery status, would be saved on here." He tapped against the side of the casing. Endeavor could see a tiny chip on the circuit board close to where Hagane pointed.

"So, what's the result?" Endeavor asked a bit impatiently.

"Nothing," Hagane gave a lopsided smile. "It's eerie, but the batteries must have discharged to absolute zero so fast that the system couldn't even send out an alarm, or any sort of signal to the computer. It didn't even register it at all."

Endeavor stared at the device. He took it in his hands turning it around as if it would yield any answers that way. "How fast exactly are we talking?"

"I have no idea," Hagane said. "I tried to make a few experiments, but I can't discharge the batteries quick enough that the device won't register it."

"What would happen to the energy?" Endeavor asked out loud. He knew it was unlikely that Hagane would know the answer. Was this a quirk that just discharged batteries? Or did they absorb electricity to store or reuse in some other way?

"Logically, I would say the energy wouldn't just vanish. They either have to discharge it into the ground, or they have to use it in some other way." Hagane still answered to the best of his knowledge. He shrugged, "but who knows with the kinds of quirks out there?"

Endeavor nodded. Absentmindedly, he typed into his computer.

"There was…" He paused as he found what he was looking for. "Right, here. A few days ago, an unknown group freed a villain called 'The Raining Man' from police custody." He clicked on the file and waved Hagane to come look at it with him. "They mentioned that their communication was jammed, but the devices were not discharged. Do you think this could be the same quirk?"

Endeavor gave the technician a few minutes to read. His dark eyes flickered over the screen much faster than Endeavor himself was able to read on a computer desktop. "It's hard to say," he said finally. "Maybe his quirk is broader than just being able to discharge and store electricity. Maybe he can control electronic devices… Or it's because…" Endeavor realized the man was mumbling to himself rather than answering Endeavor's question. He moved towards the cursor and Endeavor gave him free rein over his computer, but he only scrolled down a little bit. "That's a standard model…"

"So?" Endeavor asked a bit impatiently when Hagane finished reading.

"I assume it's feasible that this quirk allows a broader manipulation of electricity. It's hard to say." He frowned. "But it's also possible he did the same thing like with your security system. Your system is state of the art. There's a chance, if you leave just a tiny bit of energy in the batteries, it will still send an alarm due to the sudden discharge. However, with the police communicators… They are nowhere near as reliable. They did not need to shut them down completely. Fluctuating power levels might be enough to jam the signal sufficiently."

Endeavor nodded. "Thanks. Anything else?"

"Not for now. I'm currently trying to find a way to protect the device from such interference, but I don't think there's anything we can do. Even the best security system is still rather powerless against some quirks out there. I would just suggest for the next time, you should plug the cable into the wall permanently instead of just using batteries. They might still be able to jam the signals for a time, but at least as soon as they leave, the system will reboot and send an alarm automatically."

He took the ruined device from Endeavor's hands and made to leave the room.

"I have an idea for how to find out the time it needs to discharge," Endeavor called after him. "So, don't spend any more time with that than necessary."

Hagane left with a silent bow.

He looked at the clock. It was late, he would go home soon. But it wasn't too late, Endeavor decided. So, he took his phone and chose the number for the UA Principal's office. It only rang twice before Nezu picked up.

"Good evening, this is Endeavor," he greeted.

"Ah, Endeavor. I assume you're calling about young Shoto?"

"No, actually," he sighed, quenching down his sudden need to ask about Shoto. "I'm currently investigating a case. I think I could use the help of one of your students."

"Oh?" Suddenly Nezu sounded a lot more curious, as if he had been annoyed by Endeavor's late call before. Maybe he had been. "How can we help you?"

"You have a student who can control electricity?" Endeavor asked, because he wasn't entirely sure. He had been there to watch the sports festival and he was pretty sure he remembered a kid with an electricity manipulating quirk. Truth be told, though, among the first years he had only cared for Shoto. He couldn't be bothered to learn all their names and quirks. The third years were more interesting to decide whom to take on as an intern, or even a sidekick, after their graduation. "A boy in Shoto's grade," Endeavor added after a moment.

"Chargebolt, yes," Nezu said immediately. "This is very uncommon. Normally we register offers for internships online."

"This is not an offer for an internship," Endeavor replied immediately, but then he thought he might have sounded too harsh. He changed the phone to his other hand with a somewhat exasperated sigh and frowned unhappily. He guessed he couldn't just demand this kid to work for him without offering something in return. "Though I guess, if he is interested, he can call my office and we can arrange something."

"Curious indeed," the principal sniggered. "Well, I guess it's not too late. I'll put you through to Aizawa in the class 1-A dorm. You can arrange the details with him and Chargebolt directly."

"Hn!" Endeavor nodded. He waited for a moment. Aizawa took a bit longer than Nezu to pick up. Then he shortly explained his wish to Aizawa who promptly called for the boy.

"I don't want to work for him!"

Endeavor frowned at the tone of the boy's voice that he could only barely hear through the phone. Aizawa had just explained to him that Endeavor needed him for a job. Endeavor could not understand most of what they were talking about. Every now and then a word or entire sentence made it clear through the connection, though.

"This could be a real opportunity," he heard Aizawa mutter in a frustrated tone.

"I don't care." There was some unintelligible muttering. He thought he heard Shoto's name.

Frustrated, Endeavor grumbled into his phone. He could hear movement on the other side, then Aizawa apparently took up the phone again, because he was now more understandable.

"He does not want to help you," he said simply.

"I heard that. Can you put me on speaker, so I can at least explain what this is about?"

There was a moment of silence, then Aizawa told him he had put him on speakers.

"Right," Endeavor grunted. "Chargebolt, can you hear me?" He could hear the boy hum in annoyance. "I need your help with the following problem: A few days ago, a villain was busted out of police custody by a new group of villains. I have reason to believe that the same group recently messed with my security system. They completely discharged the batteries in an instant. I hope you understand why that is a problem?"

He waited for a reply, but he couldn't hear Chargebolt say anything. There was some grumbling and muttering on the other end. The boy sounded somewhat aggressive, but it was impossible to make out any words. Annoyed with that behavior, Endeavor rubbed his temples with his free hand and continued.

"If there is a group out there able to circumvent my security system, there is not a single household that is safe from them. Depending on how good they really are, they might even be able to break into government buildings or banks that way. I need your help to find out something about one of their quirks." He paused again, but this time he didn't hear any sound from the other side. He started doubting that the kid was even still in the room, but he hoped Aizawa would have the decency to tell him before he started explaining himself to an empty room. "I have reason to believe, it's similar to your own quirk."

This time, when he paused, he could hear the boy's annoyed huff. Aizawa said something which he did not understand.

"I'm willing to pay for your work, of course," Endeavor continued after another moment, but still, there was no immediate response. "Listen, I understand, you probably have every reason not to like me, especially if you're friends with Shoto—," he started, but he was rudely interrupted.

"Shut up!" Chargebolt hissed. "Fine… I don't want anything from you! Keep your money just…" Endeavor already closed his eyes in defeat. "Just tell me what to do. I can do it here – or do I have to come to your agency?"

"Wherever you like," Endeavor said immediately. His answer was accompanied by a silent breath of relief. "I'll order a security system like the one I use for you. You would need to set it up and then try and discharge it so fast that not a single alarm is registered, or find some other way to discharge it without triggering the alarm. Can you do that?"

"I can discharge phones," Chargebolt answered after a moment. "Never tried with alarm systems, but it should be the same."

"Good." He huffed a loud sigh, glad the boy had agreed. "Tell me as soon as you find a way to do it."

"Sure."

"I'll order it on your hero name," Endeavor stated, already opening the online shop of the company selling the system, when there was a click over the phone and he realized he wasn't on speakers anymore.

"He's already gone. I'll tell him to wait for the package," Aizawa said.

"Ah…" Surprised, Endeavor couldn't do anything but nod silently. What was it with this boy? He realized he was probably a friend of Shoto's, but did all of Shoto's friends hate him like that? He decided not to ask about it. "How is Shoto doing?"

"As well as could be expected," Aizawa answered vaguely. Then he added, "He's worried about his mother." Endeavor waited for more information, but Aizawa wouldn't surrender any more details.

"Oh," he muttered uselessly. "Thanks for coming to the meeting today."

Aizawa hummed. "Yeah, I shared the information with the staff earlier, but I can't promise UA will be able to help with your hero network. Our priority is still with the students."

There was little else to add to that, so Endeavor ended the call shortly after and placed the order for the new security system.

When he arrived home almost two hours later, it was again almost midnight. It was long after dark, and even the paparazzi outside his house seemed to have fallen asleep and missed his arrival. On his way in, he registered that the red paint had indeed vanished from his front door. He was immediately thankful that he would not read those vile accusations and demands again to ruin an otherwise mostly successful day. Entering the kitchen, he could already smell the cold stew sitting in a pot on the stove to be reheated.

When he had left the house in the morning, he had assumed he would be back by dinner, so he had told the housemaid Irina to prepare something. He felt almost a bit guilty that he had made her cook and not even made it to eat. Now he held his nose over the cold and strange stew. It was not something he was used to eating in this household. Most of the time, when he ate here, it was something easy he made himself. He was not a particularly talented cook. Mostly, he just ate as many carbohydrates as he could possibly shovel into his body in the short time he had to eat. So, he mostly ate rice or noodles with some vegetables, because he was aware enough to know that rice alone was not enough. Fuyumi when she cooked – although for obvious reasons he hadn't eaten her food in a long while – mostly cooked traditional Japanese dishes.

Now, however, he stood in front of a pot of a mixture of potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes and what he assumed to be pork at first glance. He could smell a lot of garlic. He had never eaten Irina's food and he was a little disappointed he had missed it. Now he could only eat the reheated version of whatever stew she had created in his kitchen. He was too tired to even care to reheat it, but it tasted well-enough, even cold as it was. He would have to thank her the next time she came over. He should also make it a habit to have at least one meal from her. It would make a good distinction from his rice and vegetable-based cooking and store-bought or cafeteria meals.

There was a message on his voicemail for him. Curious who would call his landline instead of his mobile number, he started playing the messages as he ate. There was only one message.

"Good morning, this is Yaoyorozu Machi. I represent your wife Todoroki Rei. We received the information you left for your wife last Thursday. I would like to arrange a meeting between the two of us and yourself to discuss the details of the divorce proceedings. I know this is short notice, but for the sake of clarity, I would like to start the procedure as fast as possible. I would suggest we meet at the hospital tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock? Please call back as soon as you receive this message so we can arrange the meeting."

He looked up at the answering machine as the woman's voice started dictating a number on which to call her. Of course, the machine registered the caller's number, so he hardly listened anymore. Rei had consulted…? What? A Lawyer?

He felt insulted and put off for a moment. Did she feel she needed that? But then he remembered he had also conveniently pushed the matter of his divorce off to Nakamura. Shaking his head, he finished his meal, saved the message, and left to bed.

Yaoyorozu… where did he know that name?

On his way to bed, he realized something else 'Irina-obasan' had done for him. She had done his laundry. He only realized it when he saw a stack of freshly ironed shirts on the commode in his bedroom, ready to be put away. He shook his head, embarrassed. He realized that with all his belief that he could take care of himself, he hadn't thought about doing his laundry for all of last week.

* * *

Whew...

So, as you might have realized: Rei will be back in the story next chapter. I hope that you will like that chapter. Truth be told, I already wrote it and it...went a bit differently than expected.

Also bringing Kaminari in here was a bit improvised. I didn't actually plan for it to happen until it did when I wrote this chapter. If you read "I'm Watching!" You may remember that I mentioned that Kaminari was an Endeavor fan once upon a time. Would you like him to join Endeavor for an internship? It's not something Endeavor can do at the moment, but there would be a time later on, when that would be a possibility. What do you think?

Oh and... Yaoyorozu? Yeah, I decided Momo's mum was a lawyer. So we'll meet her next chapter.


	41. The Right Thing

Hello,

I hope you all have a nice weekend. I still have not read today's chapter. I'll probably read it after I upload this chapter and I really can't wait! I'm a bit nervous the more dramatic the story gets.

Anyway, speaking about dramatic... have fun with the chapter!

* * *

 **The Right Thing**

"You did not really plan to go without me?" Nakamura complained, not for the first time this morning, as Matsuura stopped the car in the Grand Musutafu Hospital's parking lot.

Enji shook his head as he left the car. "Of course not," he lied, but he was just tired of the argument. Nakamura had been in the room when Enji asked Inari to clean his schedule for the morning and arrange everything for Hawk's departure as well as Silent Tracker's departure after him. Enji hadn't even really thought about consulting the lawyer about the meeting with Rei. He had no intention of turning their divorce into a dragged-out legal dispute, but then Nakamura had insisted to join as not just Enji's private life, but even his agency could be affected by the divorce. He'd made a good argument as to why he was needed for the meeting on their way to the hospital, and Enji had hardly dared to object anymore. Ultimately, it wasn't like Enji knew all the things they needed to find a settlement on, nor did he have a clear view of what was at stake, and after all… even Rei had consulted a lawyer, hadn't she?

Now, as they walked up to the hospital and Enji held the door for the other man, he felt almost a bit irresponsible for not thinking about consulting Nakamura before agreeing to the meeting.

Since they had prearranged the meeting this time he did not need to wait, and he didn't even go to the same room Rei normally lived in. It seemed the conversation would take place in Tanaka's office.

Tanaka's office had never been so clean and orderly, he thought as he entered. The desk was empty apart from a thick ring binder in front of a middle-aged woman with straight black hair, sitting at the far right of the desk opposite the door.

Rei greeted him with a shy smile as he entered. It was very careful and insecure on her face, and wobbled a little when their eyes met. She blinked rapidly, then her eyes dropped to her hands as if she had reason to feel guilty for something. Enji huffed at that gesture before his eyes moved to the last woman in the room. The psychiatrist, Tanaka, sat to Rei's left holding Rei's pale fingers to give comfort and support.

The first person to move, after Enji and Nakamura entered, was the black-haired stranger. That would be the lawyer, he assumed, as she swiftly rose to her feet to step out from behind the desk. She bowed in a casual but respectful way.

"I'm glad you could make the time," she greeted. "I'm Yaoyorozu Machi, we talked on the phone. Nice to meet you."

 _Yaoyorozu_ , he remembered only now as he saw this woman, was the name of one of Shoto's friends, wasn't it? He seemed to remember a tall black-haired girl. This woman shared enough similarities that he was certain they had to be related. Mother and daughter, judging by their age difference. Surely it was no mere coincidence that the mother of one of Shoto's friends was now Rei's lawyer.

He scowled for a moment, then he tried to wrestle that feeling of betrayal down. He didn't want Rei to look up, register it on his face and maybe react with panic or uncertainty. What had he expected? Of course, Shoto would help his mother. It was right that way, he tried to argue to himself. Just like it was right for him to bring a lawyer to deal with the agency-related stuff, Rei - even more than him - needed somebody to help her with this situation. It would not be a fair settlement unless they both had all the help they needed, he tried to tell himself. And he wanted this to be fair. He owed her that much.

Still, he couldn't help but feel betrayed. When he told Shoto about the divorce… he had not known what reaction to expect, but he had not thought the boy would go right to one of his friends and ask their parents for help.

He did not believe in a coincidence.

Distracted by his thoughts, he missed the moment to introduce himself. Thankfully, Nakamura had not slipped the way he had and did it for him. All Enji had to do was to bow at the right moment, and sit down on one of the chairs on the side opposite the three women.

The negotiations started slowly. He realized it was a good thing he brought Nakamura. If he hadn't already conceded to that point before, now it seemed all the more obvious as the man quickly took over the conversation. Yaoyorozu had asked a few questions about the financial records he had supplied, and Enji had answered to the best of his knowledge. Then Nakamura had quickly jumped in the moment Enji had started to confuse the values of the private estates with those of the company. After that, the two completely took over the conversation.

Enji gave up following the conversation when he started to confuse the paragraphs they threw around with the cost of Rei's monthly hospital and therapy bills. His eyes trailed towards Rei and Tanaka. Rei seemed equally lost as he, while Tanaka didn't even seem to care about what was spoken about. Well, maybe she didn't care at all. It was obvious, her only job here was to take care that Rei was doing fine. And Rei seemed to be doing fine.

Overall, he thought she had gained some color since he last met her. It could just as well be the light of the December sun shining through the window. Rei was always pale… maybe today less so than normal? Or maybe it was just his imagination.

She realized that he was looking at her. So far, she had just been looking at her fingers that were fiddling on the desk. Now she looked up. It was just a short glance, as if she didn't dare to look at him for more than a second. Where was that fierce woman from the last time, who had hit him in the chest and dared to demand a divorce? This woman seemed so lost and weak and unsure - as if she wanted to vanish below the desk and never come back out again. There was an insecurity in the way she hunched her shoulders that was not just fear, but something else.

Then her head subtly turned, as if she was trying to listen to the conversation between Yaoyorozu and Nakamura. It reminded Enji that he should probably listen too.

"We also need to discuss the custody of the two younger children," Yaoyorozu said at that moment. "Natsuo is 19 and Shoto is 15. We will need to decide who should take custody over them until they are 20." The ring binder was open in front of her. Nakamura had a similar stack of papers. Both of them turned a few pages until they arrived at the information about the children, but it seemed neither had to read what was written there. "I think for obvious reasons, Rei should fulfill that role."

"I beg to differ," Nakamura grumbled an annoyed response. "I'm sorry, but Ms. Todoroki can hardly take care of herself, never mind two teenage boys." Enji knew they hadn't even come to an agreement regarding the financial settlement. Did they think the question of who should take over custody would be easier to solve? "She hasn't been able to fulfill her parental duties for the last ten years," Nakamura enforced, throwing an apologetic glance at Rei.

Enji looked back at his wife who was ducking her head even more.

 _Gods…_

Truth be told, he had not thought about that. It had seemed obvious to him that he would keep custody. Not only could she not support the children financially, but psychologically, emotionally… He had not thought she would be able to take custody, and he had somehow carelessly assumed she would agree with him. Now, the idea that this divorce would not just cost him his marriage and a decent chunk of money, but also possibly his kids…

Fuyumi was already an adult. Touya was too. Although even if he weren't, the question of his custody would have been somewhat benign considering his situation. But Natsuo… Shoto.

Natsuo was already hard to get into contact with as it was. And Enji was still paying for his education. He feared the moment Natsuo wouldn't have to run to him anymore for his financial needs, or health insurance, or a co-signature on a credit he wanted to take, or a suretyship insurance for his dorm apartment… What reason would the boy even have left to interact with him?

And Shoto who finally had his license. No matter how much the boy still tried to avoid him, Enji felt like every step the boy took on his career path was a step closer to Enji, if only because maybe through his work Shoto would understand his father just a little bit.

"Excuse me," Yaoyorozu replied venomously, "but I hardly think Mr. Todoroki is a better solution after the way he treated not just my client, but her children, too." She tapped her fingers on the desk as if to emphasize her point. Enji bristled at the way she referred to their children as 'her children'. "We both know who the children would choose."

"I think we both know, that while the children's opinions are important, ultimately what we should consider most is, who can take care of them and who clearly cannot."

For a moment, Enji resented Nakamura as he watched Rei pale and fold in on herself even more than before. He then remembered that Nakamura was just stating the facts. The one to blame for Rei's state wasn't Nakamura, but himself. Tiredly he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Above all, we should consider the well-being of the two boys. It is clear that young Shoto is still traumatized by what happened ten years ago." Yaoyorozu's eyes sparkled with more passion than Enji thought was normal to feel for a mere client. Maybe that was her daughter speaking out of her, if Shoto's classmate was indeed her child.

"I think we should not forget that it was not Mr. Todoroki-," Nakamura started to reject her argument, but he suddenly stopped. It was too late. Everybody at the desk knew what he had wanted to say. Rei, if at all possible paled even further, her cheeks looking almost greenish. All the color he had seen on her face before had drained back out again. Tanaka leaned forward to whisper something in her ear. Yaoyorozu seemed furious at the mere suggestion that Rei might be to blame for Shoto's scar.

Enji didn't say anything. Hadn't he thought the same? Sure, he had never been quite so blind as to blame her entirely for what happened. He had had the awareness to put her into therapy, knowing it was not a conscious decision of her to hurt their son. But he had still never doubted that it had been her doing and thus her responsibility, ultimately. More than his own. He had been furious at the mere suggestion that it might have been his fault instead.

"I apologize," Nakamura said after a short cough. "Tanaka-sensei, what is your professional opinion about her abilities to take over custody?" he now turned to the psychiatrist.

But Tanaka was not willing to answer. "I'm sorry," she started but there was no true regret in her voice. "My role here is to lend emotional support to my patient, not to answer questions about her abilities as a mother. I'm not prepared to assess that, least of all under these circumstances."

Yaoyorozu nodded decidedly. "Please, Mr. Nakamura, we both know that so far no judge has decided on that matter. If you want to go this path, I suggest we bring this matter to court and let the judges decide whether they would rather give my client custody over her children, or a man who is now notorious for the abuse he put his family through."

Enji stared at her in shock. She would not… Did Yaoyorozu mean that? Had she and Rei spoken about that course of action and agreed that they would drag him in front of the courts and drag his career through the mud with it? Enji had almost frozen on his chair.

 _He knew…_ Nakamura had said it often enough, that a big reason why he had come out of that scandal without any legal repercussions, the reason he had come out of it with a bruised ego and massively declining ratings but without even a police investigation against him, was that neither Rei nor his children had given any credence to the accusation. None of them had gone to the police and repeated the accusations against him.

Was that it? Would she make him choose between his sons and his career and maybe risk losing both?

He had to give Nakamura credit that he did not even flinch at the suggestion to bring this to court. Back in the car, they had only briefly mentioned that they wanted to avoid a court procedure at all cost. Enji had quickly dismissed that fear, not thinking it would come down to that. _Had he underestimated Rei like that?_

Part of him wanted to just stand up and leave. He could not make that decision and it was cruel of her to ask it of him. But he remained glued to the spot, sure that if he just left, he'd lose both.

Disbelievingly, he stared at Rei. And suddenly his spiraling thoughts _stopped_.

They were bluffing! They were as unwilling to go to court as he was. He realized it with just one glance at Rei's face, her hunched shoulders, her almost green face and the pure terror in her eyes. He stared at her, a scowl on his face as he was still angry – at her that she forced him to make that decision, at himself for underestimating her. She shivered and shrunk even further, shriveled away in front of his very eyes.

Her lawyer glared at him, her psychiatrist grabbed her hands in silent comfort motioning for him to stop his staring. He hardly registered both of their increasing anger at him. She was…

He realized he still had her in the palm of his hand. She was hardly even able to breathe with him scowling at her. He could still… Just a word, he realized, just a word from him and she would take everything back. It was the same as when she demanded the divorce in the first place. A desperate leap of faith that she did not really believe would lead anywhere. He could still just demand that everything stay the same, and she would follow, terrified of what he might do otherwise. She was flanked by her lawyer and her psychiatrist, there was objectively nothing he could do if he did not want to become a villain outright, and still, she was terrified of what he might do.

He was distracted when Nakamura's knee bumped into his under the table, as even Nakamura realized the awkward pressure in the room. The temperature had been dropping, he realized. Rei's quirk was subconsciously slipping a little.

He finally turned his eyes away, glancing at the stack of papers in front of the two lawyers. He wished he had listened more carefully to what they had been talking about before.

"You mentioned the marriage contract before," he said quietly to Nakamura. It wasn't really a question but it wasn't a statement either. Of course, he knew he had a marriage agreement. Of course, he roughly knew the contents of it. He hadn't cared about it when they had first arranged the marriage. His legal team back then, when he had still been a promising young hero who had just taken the number two position at the age of twenty, had drawn the agreement up to make sure his agency and performance would be secured in case of a divorce. To him, the mere idea that they might divorce hadn't been on his mind, so he hadn't bothered with the agreement before. He had read it after Rei had asked for the divorce, but he had honestly not been able to find the time to go into the finer details. He didn't understand most of what was written there. Now, Nakamura flipped through his documents until he found the copy he was looking for, slipping it over to Enji.

Skimming through the first paragraphs, he quickly remembered what he had read before. There was a lot of legal jargon, but the most important aspect, he knew, was that none of his agency's property and money would be subject to the marriage agreement. It was only now that he slowly understood the problem.

The agency was entirely his property, he was the only owner, but the company's finances and properties were separate from his private and family funds. Most of what he owned was the company. Once he excluded everything that was related to his company, his image, the value of his hero name… there was only little left. Even the dojo in his own home was marked as necessary to uphold his performance and would thus not be considered for whatever financial settlement they could agree on.

That was not all. Although he had not cared for the possibility of divorce back then, he had added his own two cents to the agreement, that stated custody of the children would stay with him. After all, he had only married her for these kids and in the event of a divorce, he wanted to make sure he could still train them.

He put the document back down on the table. What a messed-up piece of writing. He was surprised it was even legal. It did make provisions for her, granting her monthly alimonies and a share of the remaining property, but still…

He quickly calculated in his head. The family home minus the dojo, the money on their bank account, the family car, the monthly household-stipend… Once he subtracted the cost of Natsuo's and Shoto's education, the money he still used to fund Fuyumi once a month, just in case… He assumed there was enough money for a single woman to live a comfortable life in a single apartment in Musutafu. Not enough to pay the monthly cost of her therapy and medical treatment, not enough to pay for her children.

Back when they had married, he had agreed to pay her parents a lot of money to pay for their medical treatment at the time. That money was now long gone, he assumed, although he could not be certain, as he had no contact with his in-laws. But apparently, a young Enji Todoroki had thought that was enough, and he did not owe her anything else in case of a divorce. Annoyed with himself, he rubbed his eyes so hard his scar hurt, and when he opened his eyes again, he could see dark specks in his vision.

"I assume you don't want to deal with the house?" he asked. She was probably terrified to step back on the property, and he could almost instantly read the truth on her face.

With the provisions of the contract, she would be forced to either sell the house to him, have him sell it to her, or demand that he paid rent. That said, negotiating any of that would be difficult. They both knew she could not live in the house and could hardly even look at it without getting another panic attack. Negotiating with the cause of her man who had abused her about the place where he had put her through that trauma… Hardly a fair basis for negotiations.

"What do you need?" he asked, looking first at Rei, then at Yaoyorozu who he assumed had a better overview over her monthly costs.

The black-haired woman frowned at him as if she did not quite know why he was asking so directly. "The therapy and medical treatment," she started, flipping through her documents, "that's a monthly cost—"

"I'll pay that," he said, interrupting her. "I will continue to pay for her treatment here. I assume you will continue this therapy?" He glanced at her, waiting for her to nod. "As long as you need it, I will pay it," he declared. She stared at him.

This was only right, he knew. He hadn't thought about the therapy when he had arrived here. It seemed logical that he would pay that. He was the reason she needed it in the first place. If he would refuse, she could just sue him over it. Of course, the way she looked utterly terrified over the mere idea of going to court, she would probably not do it. All the more reason for him to pay it anyway. How could he possibly atone for his sins, if he was still profiting from her fear like that?

"About the house," Yaoyorozu continued after a moment of silence.

"I suggest, I pay rent according to standard prices per m² in the area," he suggested with a shrug. "Or I could pay you off." He tried not to think about the amount of money. It hardly hurt, he realized. He'd been warned that a divorce would be expensive. Just because he had pressured her into an agreement that would make it less so… Still, the Agency was off-limits. In so far, he would hold on to the contract. It felt dirty doing so, but he would make sure she could live a comfortable life – as comfortable as possible, but he could not lose or risk the agency. "If you prefer the second option, I think we should contract an outside reviewer to guess the property's value."

She stared at him, and as he continued to agree to Yaoyorozu's demands, he felt he was doing something right. He knew, ultimately Nakamura would go over the agreement and hash out the details with Yaoyorozu… But even so, it wasn't like he needed this big and empty house. If he had to, he could just as well live in one of the apartments in the agency. He knew, ultimately, he was still selfish, as he would inevitably keep his greatest value – the agency – to himself, but still… _It felt right_ …

"The children," she whispered.

It was the first time she spoke during the entire meeting and his thoughts suddenly stopped, his prior positive feelings freezing as if she had used her quirk.

The children…

 _His boys…_

He was not prepared to give that. He stared at her again, shaking his head without even realizing it.

"Give me my boys, Enji" she begged.

 _But, how could he?_

He turned away from her suddenly more confident and now demanding eyes. Had he…given her that courage, to dare take them away from him? Was this the result of him trying to give her what she needed?

He stared at the table. Silently, he glanced at Nakamura, hoping his lawyer could somehow come up with the magical solution. Nakamura just looked back at him, waiting. Finally, Nakamura sighed. "Would you give us five minutes?" he asked. Before Yaoyorozu or Rei could even nod, he stood up and pulled Enji with him out of the room.

"I can't," Enji muttered the moment the door closed. "I threw Natsuo away pretty much the moment he was born before his quirk even manifested because I… How would it look if I now gave up on him completely without fighting?" The words sputtered out of him, as if he had held them in the entire time, when in fact, they only now formed on his tongue. This was it…

The mere idea that he was considering it… Would that not prove Natsuo right? The mere fact that thinking about losing custody over Natsuo was frightening, but losing it over Shoto… That was worse. And why was that? _It wasn't supposed to be different!_ They were both his sons why was losing one of them frightening but losing the other one mind-numbingly terrifying?

"According to Japanese law, only one of you can take custody, but you don't have to decide now," Nakamura said quietly. "This is difficult. Nobody expected a decision today. It's already remarkable how far we came."

Enji hardly listened. He balled his hands into fists. Not deciding today… Would the question be easier on another day?

"Can she…?" he asked in a hushed tone. "Can she take them away from me?"

"I think it's unlikely that she will go to court," Nakamura said with a smile, as if to reassure him. He was right of course, but…

Had he not just decided he did not want to profit from her being terrified of going to court? Shit…

"If… If," he realized his voice trembled slightly. "If a judge had to decide, what would they do?"

Nakamura looked thoughtful for a moment. "To be honest, that is difficult to say. Especially considering the abuse, it seems likely they would choose her, unless her mental state is considered too unstable."

"So…," he laughed hoarsely and without any form of amusement in his voice. "I'd have to hope that I beat her to a point of adequate insanity to be considered… what, unfit to be a mother?" He huffed cynically.

There was a look on Nakamura's face he could not quite interpret. Somewhere between sheepish, appalled and sympathetic.

Enji realized he hated that look directed at him. What was he? Some pathetic, disgusting, sad creature…?

 _Doing the right thing…_

He pushed back through the door into Tanaka's office without telling Nakamura what he intended to do.

"Can you take care of them?" he asked, still standing and glowering down at Rei, not quite able to make himself not intimidating. He was angry. Not with her, but with himself, with the world. Maybe a bit with her, too. For now, she had to deal with it. If she could not handle being glowered at, how could she take care of their sons?

First, she shrunk back, but this time, she would have to find her strength himself. This time, he would not back down. Maybe she understood that, because she suddenly found her resolve. Her spine straightened. "Yes," she said, although her voice was hardly audible.

He nodded angrily.

"Shoto has become a hero," he said, his voice rough. "He has his provisional license now. What if he goes out on patrol? What if he's involved in a fight? What if he sees people die?"

Shoto… He realized he was not even fighting for Natsuo. Natsuo would prefer his mother, he knew. He'd probably thank him. Shoto would, too… So, why was he trying so much harder for the younger one?

 _Was Natsuo already lost to him?_ He would turn twenty in only half a year. Then Enji's custody over him would end, anyway. Enji was not so deluded as to assume the boy would stay close after that. The way it looked now, the moment the boy turned twenty, he'd be almost as lost to him as Touya.

"I'll be there for him," she said simply, still so quiet he had to strain to even hear her.

He wanted to laugh in her face. She had never seen a person die. He had put her through unimaginable horrors, he assumed. So unimaginable, even he himself still had trouble remembering and imagining what exactly it was, that had ruined her so. But still… Shoto, with every step closer to becoming a hero, would see things… inevitably live through horrors and hurt and… Was she able to support him through that?

 _Was he?_ How ironic, that he would argue with Shoto's mental health when it had to be obvious to everybody in the room, that Enji – who maybe shared those horrors – would not know the first thing on how to help Shoto through them. In that regard, Rei was at least ten steps ahead of him. At least she had already confronted her own traumas.

He stared at the hospital floor of plain grey linoleum in front of his feet. "I want… I want somebody to assess your mental health. If they say," he looked up at her, swallowing with great effort. Saliva was forming in his mouth from the way he had to force the words out.

Doing the right thing…Didn't they say, it was supposed to _feel good_?

"If they say you are up for it, I'll sign custody over to you."

He didn't care for the way her eyes lit up, for the way she breathed in deeply and freely. He hardly even saw her pinched lips loosen… The moment he finished his last word he turned around glaring at Nakamura as if it was his fault what he had done. "You deal with the details, draw up an agreement for me to sign."

He pressed the words out from between his teeth in a way they were hardly understandable. Then he rushed out of the office.

It hurt. Doing the right thing had never _hurt_ so much.

* * *

Whew!

I really hope you liked it. To be honest, when I started writing this chapter I didn't know where it would go to. I had it in my mind for a while, that they would at least resolve the financial situation with Enji more or less giving in to all her needs because he wants to support her in her recovery and (rightfully) thinks he owes her at least that much. Also since he is fairly rich it wouldn't hurt him that much. I added the marriage contract that excluded the agency and every work-related property because for one it made sense to me that Enji and especially his legal team as an up and coming young hero (who at that point cared ALOT about his hero career) would protect these company assets, plus I needed it for added drama to make it so Enji actually has to make these decisions himself, of how much money he would give her beyond the contractual requirements. Also, since I didn't know how this would work legally, I just decided to exclude the agency this way, because I really don't want Rei to be involved in the agency. That would complicate the situation a lot. So, in so far, I more or less knew what I wanted to write.

The thing I hadn't planned was the whole 'custody for the children' thing. Apparently in Japan when parents divorce only one parent will get custody over the child. So the parents have to agree or a judge would decide on that matter. I also read that in Japan you're only an adult with 20. So that meant I needed to answer the custody question for not just Shoto but also Natsuo. From what I found out, this law will change 2022 (or 21?) to 18. I know MHA plays in some sort of not so distant future, so it would have probably also been okay to take that new regulation, but I decided this (including Natsuo) would make the whole scene more dramatic. So, I took some artistic liberties. Other than that I don't really know that much (nothing at all actually) about the legal situation in Japan. I don't know how the courts would decide in such a matter, but I know that at least here, where I live, mental illness does not automatically mean you'll lose a custody battle. Soooo, I don't know how the situation would be in reality, but I decided that Rei's illness is not so bad that it would exclude her from taking custody outright. All of these things I hadn't actually thought that hard about when I first went into this chapter. Maybe you remember an earlier chapter (Flashfire) when Enji met Shoto and Enji pretty much thought it was a given that he would keep custody... Well, Enji apparently wasn't properly educated on the matter either.

Weirdly enough, I feel like - for something I hadn't planned before - this now changes the situation completely without actually changing anything at all.

So, what do you think? Will Rei be up to the task? What do you think about the chapter?

I actually really like it. I got quite emotional, writing the last few paragraphs. I think I didn't get quite enough Todoroki-family hurt recently, so maybe this makes up for it.


	42. An Attack in Nabu

Hi,

first sorry for the late upload. I was with my parents over the weekend and couldn't find the time to upload. Secondly, for those who read my description of Musutafu a few chapters ago, you might remember the district called Nabu. For everybody else, it's a high-upity living area in the south west of Nabu where Enji lives.

* * *

 **An Attack in Nabu**

"Silent Tracker has arrived in Fukuoka. As far as we know, her presence there is still a secret," Inari informed him.

Endeavor only grunted in response.

He could hardly find it in himself to care. He'd rushed from the hospital to his agency to distract himself with work, but it wasn't working how he had hoped. There was so much work to do – in theory. The streets were filled with new villains who thought to challenge the heroes. His agency needed restructuring and new recruits to fill open positions. His agency's marketing campaign was a disaster at the moment, and he already had feedback from two prefectures who had set up their local emergency network for heroes as he had suggested just yesterday…

And still, his desk was eerily empty, and after just two hours, he sat in his office with nothing to do. He could go out on patrol, but he felt he could not deal with the public's rejection now. Part of him just wanted to crawl home and sleep the rest of the day, trying to forget what had happened. But he knew that wouldn't work either and, in truth, he was terrified of the night.

"She called to say that Hawks went straight on patrol after he arrived. She'll need the rest of the day to find an apartment and then come up with a plan of action," Inari continued, not caring for his employer's lack of response.

Endeavor only nodded, looking at his desktop. Gang Orca had sent him a message over the Hero Network to let him know he would probably need a day or two to set up the emergency hotline in Kanagawa Prefecture. He had communicated with Edgeshot's team and the biggest agencies in the prefecture and they had decided that Gang Orca would take care of it.

Endeavor should probably create a list with all the local coordinators, he realized. It made sense to decide on one core figure per prefecture who would serve as the junction between the local heroes and the other prefectures. Kagawa Prefecture had already called to inform him that a local hero by the name of Sunscreen – he had never heard about her – had started coordinating the heroes of the prefecture. It was a small prefecture with only four independent heroes, five sidekicks and two interns with provisional licenses. The most famous hero of the area ranked 50th on the current billboard charts. His name was Locomotor, and apparently Sunscreen was one of his sidekicks. Kagawa, being as small as it was, made it easy to coordinate the few heroes there. He expected the bigger prefectures to take a lot longer to come back with any results.

Still, that list would probably make sense. Him for Musutafu, Gang Orca for Kanagawa and Sunscreen for Kagawa… That was a start…

However, as he read it for the third time, Gang Orca's message hardly registered in his mind.

"For now, she'll settle in for two weeks," Inari still talked about Silent Tracker's mission. Endeavor had as much trouble focusing on his words as he had with Gang Orca's message on the screen. "Possibly longer."

"Tell her to call, when she finds anything. And to stay out of trouble," Endeavor finally answered. It was a useless comment, as they had told her that a dozen times before she had even left the agency this morning. Still, Inari did not mention it but only nodded.

"Nakamura called," Inari continued, "he says you came quite far this meeting. He thinks he has everything he needs to finish the agreement and the divorce papers with Yaoyorozu. But he will need a few days for the details. Expect it in roughly two weeks."

Endeavor nodded tiredly. "He'll call if he needs anything else," he muttered more to himself.

He closed the Hero Network, realizing his failure to focus on anything was just a waste of time. He should probably call it a day and go home early. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep, but at least nobody was there to witness his pathetic state of mind. He didn't even want to know what Inari must be thinking.

"I'll probably-" he started, but as if the gods themselves took pity with him, an alert popped up on his screen and his phone started to ring. "Finish this for me," he told Inari, not specifying what he meant as there was no task open on his screen to finish.

Still, Inari didn't complain. "Of course," he said routinely. It was normal that Endeavor would leave his current work for Inari to finish whenever an emergency call came through.

"Talk to me," he bellowed into his phone, already shrugging out of the suit he had not bothered to change out of after he had left the hospital. As always, he wore his hero costume underneath.

The voice on the other end belonged to one of his employees who coordinated emergency responses. He didn't know her name immediately, but he didn't have any time to ask her for it either. "An emergency came through from Avalanche!" she exclaimed. Her voice was excited, the words rushed out so fast, it was a miracle he could even understand her.

Endeavor put in his ear-piece, so he had his hands free to put his armored shoulder pads and braces on. He took his gloves and jumped out of the window, activating his flames mid-fall to shoot in the direction she suggested.

"He's on patrol at the Nabu River close. There's been a break-in in the Yamasaki Toy Store, it's…"

"I know where it is," he interrupted impatiently. It was not too far away from where he lived. He ran past it regularly on his morning jog. "Why did he request back-up?" he asked, still soaring over the Musutafu Skyline. His agency was one of the highest buildings in the area, and up high the way he was, he could fly over the roofs of Musutafu Central without any hindrance. He'd arrive in the south part of the city in no time.

"He says there are four villains. They ganged up on him and he is alone." She sounded uncertain. "He was not able to give me any more details.

Endeavor cursed. To fight four villains at once was a lot for every hero, but… Avalanche was not only his most senior and thus most experienced sidekick, but he was quite powerful. Endeavor normally expected him to be able to take care of a small group of villains by himself.

"That's all the information I have, I'll put you through to him," she finished and as soon as he grunted his consent, he could hear the connection click and go quiet for a moment.

Then suddenly, he heard loud noises and static. "Avalanche," he called out, but if Avalanche heard him and answered, he could not tell. Noises were coming through: a crash, rattling, an annoying whistle that would give him a tinnitus if he had to listen to it any longer, and a constant low humming. He thought he could also hear something that sounded like a human voice, but the connection was so bad he couldn't make out anything specific. "I'm almost there!" He assured, although he didn't know if the other had heard him.

He could already see the Nabu River glistening down below him. Just a few seconds now.

There was no point in paying any attention to the noises coming through his ear-piece, they would only distract him. So he ended the connection and put the headset away when he started his ascent. Now that there was no other distraction, he managed to hear the noise of the fighting from down below. He could already see the cloud of snow moving below him that hindered his sight, but the lower he got, the more he could make out the dark figures moving.

He killed his flames off so he fell like a stone from the sky. He aimed so he would land right on top of them and hopefully take one of the villains out with his arrival on the scene.

It was difficult making out the details of the fight, but he was sure he recognized Avalanche with his light blue fur jacket. He was almost entirely camouflaged in the snow, but Endeavor's eyes were experienced enough in picking him out even in a blizzard of snow. Talking of which, the snow was weird. Now that he could accurately place Avalanche and the villains on the battlefield, as well as see the silhouettes of a bunch of bystanders huddling together close to the toy store, he realized that the snow was not attacking the villains as he was expecting.

There was not much time for more consideration, as he landed on the asphalt with a heavy thud. The ground was cracking under his feet, but sadly the villain got away in time to avoid his strong fists. He did not use his quirk yet, for fear of hindering Avalanche. He did not know anything about the opponents, and who knew what reason Avalanche had to put so much energy into camouflaging himself and the bystanders?

A woman was right in front of him. A mean grin on a thin face. Her eyes had widened in shock as she only barely managed to evade his first attack. She was tall with long limbs and an abnormally long neck. He had never seen her, he was sure. Then suddenly, she vanished.

Invisibility, he thought, or speed or maybe even teleportation. He braced for an attack, but when it came…

He'd been wrong. Avalanche was not trying hard to camouflage himself, or the bystanders or anybody. He was not the one who had created this blizzard. He only realized that, when ice cold snow formed on his body, his breath froze in front of his eyes. Snowflakes formed sharp-edged shards to cut him. He immediately activated his flames, the fire soaring high enough to melt the surrounding snow to puddles of water and steam. He stared down at his elbow, where a particularly sharp and long shard had cut through his skin and costume. This was not Avalanche's doing. Avalanche's attacks were stronger, more effective, less erratic and most of all his snow did not melt quite as easily. Or rather, in their training sessions, he was able to reform the snow almost as fast as Endeavor could melt it, forming even thinner and sharper shards of ice. Sometimes with that method of quickly melting and creating the snow, he could cover the floor with a thin layer of ice that would make it difficult to walk without slipping.

This time, the snow was not reforming, the water just collected on the ground and as steam in the air. Now the steam was sticking close to his skin instead of escaping into the sky as it normally would. It was uncomfortably hot, reddening Endeavor's skin, but not quite hurting him. Only when the puddles of water moved at his feet did he realize he fought against this particular quirk before.

This was the Raining Man's doing. Endeavor had not seen it in action, but Eraserhead had informed him he could control water no matter which state it was in. No wonder Avalanche had trouble. The enemy had a quirk that could use his own snow against him.

Endeavor raised his body temperature and heat output so much, the surrounding blizzard lifted immediately. The steam still lingered, but ultimately his skin got so hot the Raining Man had difficulties holding on to the steam, and it finally escaped into the atmosphere.

Now, he could finally see clearly. Avalanche stood hunched, one hand against the wall between the villains and a group of four or five bystanders hiding in an alley between the toy store and the neighboring house. His left arm and the right side of his face was weirdly lax, just hanging down. He was bleeding from several wounds and breathing heavily.

Opposite him stood a guy Endeavor had never seen, fists raised against him. The villain turned a little to look at Endeavor now that their visions all cleared. The long-necked woman stood next to the Raining Man, still with that ugly grin on her face. There was a second woman behind them, aiming for Endeavor.

He realized it in time to use his quirk to get out of the way of a charging bolt of lightning. An electricity-quirk. The Raining Man. A group of four. He knew who they were. The ones who had smeared red paint on his house.

"You!" he growled. He was distracted as the male villain who had stood in front of Avalanche turned his attention on Endeavor, charging with raised fists.

"Don't!" He heard Avalanche warning, but it was too late to stop Endeavor.

He had already raised his right hand to catch the villain's attack, while he focused flames in his left to counterattack. The moment his right palm touched the villain's bare knuckles, all strength left his hand. The muscles on his fingers and wrist were not enough to keep his hand tense, and weakly his wrist gave with the force of the punch. He cursed painfully as two of his fingers snapped with what wasn't even a particularly powerful punch.

Still, he didn't care for the pain flaring in his right, and instead attacked with his left. The villain quickly retracted, screaming in pain as Endeavor's flames burned parts of his costume on his right side and singed his hair. An angry red burn appeared on the naked skin below his costume. Endeavor got a single clear glimpse of the man's face and costume. He was a short and somewhat round man. The costume revealed a lot of skin, even disregarding the part of the shirt Endeavor had just burned away. His face, his nose, his eyes even the shape of his shoulders and hands… everything about him looked absurdly round and lacking any sharp edges or angles.

Then the other three villains suddenly appeared next to him, and Endeavor saw that mean smile on the woman's thin face again before all four of them vanished without a trace.

He stood there, his left fist still raised while his right fell to his side, completely relaxed. He waited for a surprise attack, but the seconds ticked by and nothing happened. They were gone, he realized. It had to be a teleportation quirk.

There was a huff from behind him, and one of the civilians made an odd sound like a cry for help that barely made its way through a terrified mind. He whirled around.

Avalanche had collapsed where he stood. Endeavor only now had time to assess his injuries. He hurried to his colleague, scrambling for his phone as he ran to call an ambulance.

"Any of you injured?" he asked the civilians. But he only looked at them for a second, judging that they all looked fine before he knelt next to his sidekick.

"Shit," Avalanche hissed, his voice mixed with frustration and pain. He was conscious and trying to stand up, but his body failed him.

"Calm down, they are gone," Endeavor tried to calm him down. He tried to reject the harsh thought that they had gotten away, and that was his fault. That had been his chance to capture them.

"Tz," Avalanche hissed, shrugging Endeavor's hand off. Surprised, Endeavor's hand hovered in the air helplessly.

He only realized that through all this, his right hand still hadn't moved at all. He stared down at it, irritated. His elbow worked just fine, but his wrist and fingers were flopping around with every movement as if they were made of rubber. His muscles, he realized, were refusing to contract. Hopefully the effect wouldn't last long.

Avalanche was shivering, he realized. His fingers were white as snow, frost hung from his lips. Endeavor knew he had a similar weakness to his quirk as Endeavor himself, just not quite as extreme as he couldn't reach such extreme temperatures as Endeavor could. As he put his hand back on the sidekick's back, he could feel the heat of the integrated heating system of the costume through the fabric. He increased the intensity of his flames, to help a little without risking burning the man.

He moved again. Avalanche's arm, that he seemed to slowly regain control over, roughly shoved against Endeavor in an attempt to push him away.

"Woah, there." Endeavor was surprised by the gesture. "What's going on?"

It was clear Avalanche wanted him to stay away. He decided to fulfill this wish, so instead, Endeavor turned to his own two broken fingers. He still hovered close to Avalanche, making sure he caught some of his heat and that he wouldn't just collapse again.

There was a click and a flash. He turned around to see one the civilians Avalanche had protected, snapping a picture of the scene. Endeavor stared at him. Then he blinked as the camera light flashed again. Before he could do anything about it, or even decide whether there was anything to do about this, he could hear the ambulance.

"What happened?" Endeavor asked again, turning back to Avalanche as the paramedics came to their aid.

Avalanche glared at him. Then he coughed harshly. Specks of blood splattered on the pavement. "That one guy could turn my quirk against me. Everything I did was useless," he explained in a rough voice. "I had to put all my focus into trying to keep my snow from attacking them." His head jerked in the civilian's directions. "They beat me up bad."

Endeavor nodded. He had already understood that much. What made him worry though, was how this situation came to be. He looked up at the toy store. They were so close to his eyes. Just a ten-minute jog and he'd be home. Was it a coincidence that this attack against one of his own sidekicks happened so close by his house? What was Avalanche even doing here? According to his schedule, he would patrol on the other side of the city in Dagobah. And why was he alone? His sidekicks were never supposed to patrol alone.

He didn't have time to ask these questions. At that moment the paramedics shoved him aside to take care of the injured hero. They put him on a gurney and rolled him away. He looked after the ambulance before he turned to the civilians still lingering around.

The kid with the phone camera… "You," he bellowed in their direction pointing at the boy. "Did you film the fight?"

The boy stared at him with huge, fearful eyes. Then he nodded slowly.

"Give it to me," he reached out for the phone demandingly.

The kid looked utterly terrified, but at least that way he didn't dare object. Endeavor already sent the video to himself and the police before the kid even remembered that he had no reason to just give him the phone. "Hey, you can't just—," he started to complain, but Endeavor already gave him back his phone.

He used his right hand. Testily, he moved the fingers one after the other. It seemed to work fine apart from the pulsating pain in his index and middle finger. So, that quirk only lasted for a short time. Still, what an annoying quirk.


	43. Avalanche

Hello,

I had a very stressful week and hardly got to write anything. I hope I will find time to write this week or else you will sadly have to wait for the next chapter.

Also this one is not betaread yet. Have fun anyway.

* * *

 **Avalanche**

He watched the video for the fifth time now. It didn't offer much information on the villains' quirks, sadly. But they had a clear image of the face of the woman. So maybe the police could finally give her a name. He had to wait for the results of their face recognition software. His own software that was connected to the nation-wide Hero Network came up empty, suggesting the woman hadn't worked in the heroic profession nor been suspected of villainy before. Still, the police had even greater databases at their disposal. So, he was still hopeful.

Apart from that, however, the video was grainy, and the cameraman's hands shaky. Avalanche's blizzard didn't help either. Sometimes the video cut out entirely or showed only static. He assumed that was the work of the woman with the electricity manipulation quirk.

Before the attack had happened, he'd thought of ending the day early and going home. Now, his most powerful sidekick was hurt in the hospital and would likely remain there for a few days and he had this video to work with. He'd spent the entire evening until long into the night watching and rewatching the fight, going frame by frame, listening to every word the phone's mic had picked up.

At least now he knew, why Avalanche had been so angry. They had insulted him. They had turned his quirk against him and put him in this impossible situation where he had to protect the civilians with his body unable to use his quirk; helpless against their attacks. And then they had started mocking and insulting him. The video was so bad, Endeavor could only get a rough understanding of what they had done. How they had hurt him, punched him, kicked him, cut him up with his own quirk. How they had interrupted his call for help with the electricity-manipulating quirk.

" _Enabler_ ," they had called him obviously referring to Endeavor's abuse. " _A fake hero_ " for failing to draw any consequences. " _A failure_ " for failing to protect his employer's children. "An ignorant blind _fool_ " for failing to even see it happening.

It didn't explain the whole situation. It didn't explain why Avalanche was in the area, or why the villains were, and if it was just a coincidence they had met. But it at least explained Avalanches anger against him. They had picked him off and humiliated him to get to Endeavor.

If making him angry was what they wanted, they were succeeding.

"If society fails to find justice in this corrupt system, we will play judge, jury and prosecutor and end what Stain started!" It was the only sentence that was clearly audible in the whole video. Maybe they wanted it to be recorded.

"We can visit Avalanche at nine," Inari said. He sat on a chair in Endeavor's office, when Endeavor paused the video. It was the next morning and Endeavor hoped today would yield some information.

"Did the police say anything?"

"According to the witness statements, they attacked the toy store. They still sell your merchandise despite a public outcry on social media to boycott it," Inari answered. "Most companies have pulled Endeavor merchandise from the stores or shelved it somewhere far in the back where no one can find offense to it." Endeavor knew. His merchandise was still sold, but the numbers had dropped significantly. Enough that their loss in revenue already hurt the agency significantly. He already considered scrapping the entire Marketing and Merchandise-branch.

"Isn't that a bit petty?" He knew somebody had smeared insults across the Hero Association's headquarters in Tokyo, they had trespassed on his property and vandalised his house too. He knew some people were throwing away their merchandise of him that they owned, and somebody had burned a wallpaper of him, filmed it and put it on Yap!Tube. That was only the stuff Endeavor was aware of. So far, most of the outrage had been targeted directly at him and his agency. To attack some store just because they sold his stuff...

"Sure," Inari nodded. "But that's all the police know about the motive."

"And Avalanche?"

"Maybe a coincidence."

Endeavor frowned. He did not believe in such strong coincidences.

"They've called because the face-recognition was a positive." Inari had a notebook in his hand that he flipped open. "Her name is Yakazuki Shino. Until recently she worked for an insurance company in Shizuoka. 29 years old, no villain or criminal past. The most nefarious things on her record are a few speeding tickets. Her quirk is registered as 'Stepback'."

"What does it do?"

"It manipulates time and space. As far as I understood, it's essentially a teleportation quirk." Inari himself seemed a little confused with the quirk functions.

"There was no portal," Endeavor remembered. "So, where does the 'time'-part come in when it is a simple teleportation quirk."

Inari gave a half-shrug. He apparently didn't entirely understand the quirk. "The registry says, the quirk allows her to essentially revert the position of her body to any prior position without actually travelling through time."

Endeavor cursed. "Sounds like a particularly powerful teleportation quirk if it allows her to teleport to any place, she has already been to… Anything about the others?"

"They've compared the description you and Avalanche gave from the unknown male and compared it to the entries in the quirk registry. They have a suspect but no clear confirmation. His name is Enkei Yurui. He's 34-year-old and lost his job as a teacher when he broke a parent's nose in an argument. The details of that event are unknown." Inari gave him the notebook so he could read all the information there himself, although he had already said everything. "His quirk 'Relax' allows him to relax the muscles of any limb he touches."

"That explains it," Endeavor muttered moving his bandaged hand a little. "Can you open the villain files on them? I'm sure the police are already asking for a picture of Enkei?" When Inari nodded, he continued. "I'll go and talk to Avalanche."

They had brought Avalanche to a small hospital in Nabu. It wasn't the Grand Central where Rei was but still… When he entered, he realized over the last days he had developed a particular dislike for hospitals. Not that he had ever been keen on them. It was probably just natural that one wanted to stay there as little as possible. Still, was it normal that he felt like each time he entered a hospital he felt a little shittier than the last time, and each time he left the hospital his life had significantly worsened during his stay? Whatever would this visit have in store?

Maybe he was imagining things? Or maybe it was just a representation of how his life in general went down the drain a bit more every day. When was the last time he had felt accomplished and not had it ripped out of his hands the same day? He started feeling melancholy, he realized, pushing it down because there was no point to it.

Avalanche had his back to the door, and he didn't turn when Endeavor entered. He was tucked into the cushion and duvet so Endeavor could only see the wild tuft of blond hair fanning around his head. For a moment he thought, the other was still asleep, but then there was a slight movement when the door fell shut.

"So, you're awake," Endeavor said sitting down next to the bed. "How are you doing?"

Avalanche huffed and sighed and for a moment, Endeavor thought that was all the answer he would get. Then, "I'll be back on patrol tomorrow."

It wasn't what Endeavor had asked, but just accepted the information. It bugged him that Avalanche had still not turned around to face him. "I have a few questions," he said.

"Sure you do." Avalanche sounded tired. Finally, he turned around to face Endeavor and he looked as tired as he sounded. There were circles under his eyes and Endeavor wondered what he had been doing in this hospital bad all night. Hadn't he slept at all this night?

"You look shitty," Endeavor commented.

Avalanche only reacted with an annoyed huff. "What do you need to know?"

"Anything you can tell me about the villains. We have a phone recording of the fight, but the video and audio were very bad."

Avalanche looked almost _disappointed_ as Endeavor said it. "You saw it?" He gritted his teeth angrily.

Endeavor thought he understood that frustration. He didn't want people to see him struggle and be humiliated like that either. As heroes, they rarely had a choice in that matter, though.

"They called themselves… Justice…" he hesitated. The way he looked at Endeavor made the older man's skin crawl. "Justice for Natsuo."

Endeavor sputtered at that. _Did Natsuo know…?_ No, that was ridiculous. It was because of that stupid diary. Once again, he realized the way Avalanche regarded him with this expectant look on his face as if he waited for Endeavor to put the hospital room on fire. It took some effort to huff and grunt, "Ridiculous." But he realized his voice didn't portray the annoyance he was aiming for. He sounded almost choked.

 _"_ _Is it?"_

At first, Endeavor wasn't sure if he had heard that right. Avalanche had hardly ever even mentioned Endeavor's family, the scandal or the backlash. This skeptical question from him didn't seem to fit. The way Avalanche looked even he was surprised he had voiced it.

"Anyway, there was the Raining Man we already know. The woman with that teleportation quirk – or whatever that was – she called herself Quickstep. Then there were Relax and Noone, the electricity-woman. I spent most of the time fighting Relax while Raining Man turned my quirk against me."

Endeavor put the names to memory. He already knew most of how the fight went. He'd seen part of it with his own eyes and the video helped to piece the rest together. "Did they say anything about why they were there? Who they are? Anything that could help us catch them?"

Avalanche told him, that he felt like Quickstep was the leader among them. Relax, he explained, wasn't strong, physically speaking, but his quirk made it almost impossible to fight him in hand to hand combat. Noone was almost useless in battle, because she needed so long to charge her attacks, but she had interfered with his call to the agency.

He provided a lot of information, much of which Endeavor already figured from the recording, but it was good to have it reinforced by Avalanche. He was Endeavor's sidekicks for 13 years. No other sidekick had worked with him for quite that long. Endeavor knew to trust his judgement after all these years. However, Endeavor didn't miss how he avoided any question about what he or the villains did at that toy store.

"You still didn't say anything about why they were there?" Endeavor repeated his question. "Do you know their objective?"

"I guess, they wanted to attack the store," he answered after a beat. Avalanche didn't hold eye contact, Endeavor realized. Still, this seemed consistent with the police's theory.

"And you? What did you do there?"

Again, he didn't answer immediately. "I was in the area."

"What a _coincidence_ ," Endeavor huffed. "A group of villains out to ruin whatever good reputation I have left, meeting of all people one of my sidekicks." He didn't believe in coincidence and when Avalanche simply shrugged, he almost growled in frustration.

"What do you want me to say?"

"You ended your patrol half an hour early and left your colleague to do the rest alone," Endeavor explained. He had questioned the other sidekick, but it hadn't yielded any conclusive answers. "That's against protocol. And I know that toy store is not on your way home."

There was frustration clear on Avalanche's face in the way he wrinkled his eyebrows.

"I don't believe in coincidences. Did they lure you there?" Endeavor asked outright.

Avalanche was many things, but he was not a good liar. He needed just a second too long to shake his head for it to be believable. Apparently, he realized it himself, so he adjusted his response:

"I was offered an interview."

"At the toy store?" Endeavor asked for clarification and, when the other man nodded, he continued. "This was not arranged by the agency." Just like with Endeavor himself, the agency took care of his sidekicks' PR as well.

Avalanche shook his head. Then he sighed, adjusting his position on the mattress until he sat almost upright leaning against the wall. "No, I got an email a few days ago." He took his phone from the nightstand next to the bed. "Here. It was sent to my private email and I ignored it at first, but then there were more and more offers." He showed Endeavor one of the mails on his phone.

"Why would you fall for…" His voice cut off immediately when he saw the email-address the message came from. It was from a mostly respectably local newspaper. It was signed by a certain Shimitsu Nari, apparently a journalist from this newspaper. No wonder Avalanche thought it was legit, even if it seemed a bit fishy at first, that the offer would not come over he agency. Then again… as he read the content of the message, Endeavor realized why it was perfectly believable that they would not send the offer to the agency but the sidekicks themselves.

It was obvious, the journalist wanted dirt on Endeavor to profit from this scandal. Maybe a mission he failed, his angry temper at work, the way he treated his co-workers or the amount of property damage he caused. It was worded in a way, that didn't make it too obvious, in a way, that even for somebody who had nothing bad to say, they might not immediately reject the offer, but between the lines Endeavor could clearly see what they were after.

"What did you want to tell them about me?" Endeavor asked curiously.

Avalanche shrugged. At least he had the decency to blush and look properly ashamed, Endeavor thought angrily.

"I'd come up with something," Avalanche said. "Shimitsu Nari is Noone's real name apparently, the woman with the electricity-quirk, unless she gave me a fake name."

Endeavor felt betrayed, he realized. Avalanche was his sidekick for 13 years, and yet…

 _"_ _Why?"_

"Why do you think? **_I hate it._** You know why I joined your agency, or why I never started my own."

Fame, money, prestige… Endeavor knew. He had asked years ago and had almost forgotten, but now he remembered.

"Now, my approval ratings are plummeting almost as fast as yours." Avalanche huffed in frustration.

"You could have quit," Endeavor replied frowning. He didn't feel very sorry for Avalanche's approval ratings. The man had betrayed him. For 13 years they had worked together and now he had been about to come up with some lie to sell to the press to drag him further down!

"Yeah?" Avalanche laughed sardonically. "Sure, we've been working together for over a decade. I can't just leave. Everybody knows me as your sidekick. Even in ten years – if I ever started my own Agency – I'll just be Avalanche, from Endeavor's agency." His hands flailed in a gesture of frustration. "That wasn't too bad, you know, a year ago. Number one Sidekick to the number two hero, even the number one hero. Working alone, I'd never get that far." He grabbed his phone, ripping it from Endeavor's hands. "Now, I'm just the number one sidekick to the guy who abused his wife and children, failing to see my own boss's atrocities. I might as well be an accomplice. Brazen could go, Shrinking Girl too, since she just joined. Nobody would question that, because… Hell, why wouldn't they? I still don't know why they are still here. But me?" His voice rose slightly with anger, almost pitching in a hysteric way. "When I leave, I'll just be a coward to leave the sinking ship, and when I stay, they call me an apologist and a blind follower. In any case, as it is, my career goes down the drain just alongside yours."

"Don't be dramatic," Endeavor grunted, taking his phone again as he saw that Avalanche had opened up his many social media accounts again. With furrowed brows he looked down on all the posts of people writing the things Avalanche had just talked about. "You spend too much time obsessing over your image." Avalanche always followed the news, the media coverage, his social media accounts. Endeavor himself was perfectly happy to just let his PR-team deal with it. It was only now he realized how often he saw Avalanche scrolling through public blogs and his own private mailbox, when he wasn't on patrol.

"Stop _obsessing_ over…?!" Avalanche repeated disbelievingly, snatching his phone away again, and this time Endeavor just let him have it. "We're heroes. That's our currency. You can talk. Even if everybody hates you, you just get paid by the cases you solve. Solving a shitton of cases, so you don't need to worry what they think."

"And you get paid by me," Endeavor answered, irritated.

Avalanche didn't even seem to listen. "I dropped out of the Top 300, you know." He laughed again. "You, you can abuse your wife, beat your children, have your own son turn to villainy, and you know, if the new rankings came out tomorrow, you would still make top ten just by virtue of that crazy quirk you have. Everybody hates you, and still… Meanwhile I have dropped over 200 ranks, because most of what I do gets credited to you, but for whatever reason people seem to like me just as little as you."

All those excuses. Endeavor was sick of it. "So, you thought to sell me out. What would that accomplish? Destroy my career a bit faster and yours with it?"

"I'd be distancing myself from you!" Avalanche retorted. "I can't leave, I can't stay, and if I do nothing… What? Do you think you can just outwait this scandal? The whole country hates you, and you think if you just ignore it and do nothing it will go away? They will take you down, don't you see it!? And me with you!" He breathed heavily in anger. "So what? Did you just expect me to wait for that to happen?"

"So," Endeavor hissed, "you thought it would be a great way of distancing yourself, by spreading lies about me in public?"

"At least, they would know I'm not on your side in this. And what difference does it make? They already believe the worst of you."

"You'd give credence to the rumors."

"As if they needed that," Avalanche laughed. "You don't see it, because you wouldn't waste your time reading about what they think about you, if your life depended on it. They hate you. And to proof it, they will quote sources upon sources, and nobody even cares anymore if any of them are believable."

Endeavor furrowed his brow. Indeed, he did not waste his time on social media and the more he heard about it, the less he desired to do so. But still… "This will pass," he grunted. It will pass, he believed firmly, and then the few rumors with actually credible sources could be really problematic for him. Like Avalanche making up some horrendous story. "The Hero Association has decided to let me keep my license."

Avalanche flailed his hands in frustration. "That makes it worse. _You don't understand!_ Didn't you listen to what Hawks said during the Billboard Charts ceremony? Public Approval is everything! You just don't see it, but it will catch up to you eventually. Now, of course, they keep you around. But as soon as you make a mistake… screw that, even if you don't, as soon as a new generation comes up, with some halfway promising young heroes they'll throw you to the _dogs_. The only reason, they keep you around, is because they need you."

Endeavor knew that. Nakamura had said so himself when they had first talked to the representatives of the Hero Association. They wouldn't dare take his license, because they needed him. He had simply taken it as a fact… He had not considered that it might just be a temporal thing. But of course, eventually his usefulness to them would cease and then…?

"Maybe you don't care, because you're already getting old for an active hero anyway and you could probably live from the wealth and pensions you amassed anyway. But me? I'm 31 and if you go down, with me just watching, my name will be forever tainted by yours."

Endeavor was angry. He hardly even listened to his words anymore. How dare he…!? He had betrayed Endeavor after 13 years, and now he sat there crying about how unfair the world was.

"Did you tell them anything?" Endeavor asked after a moment of silence in which he tried to calm himself a little. "Did you give them anything?"

"No, I came a little early, apparently. I don't know if they planned to do the interview and then attack, or if they wanted to attack from the start. But apparently their other members wanted to hide during the interview, and I came to early. I recognized the Raining Man and they attacked immediately, when I called out to him." Avalanche shrugged. He had calmed down himself, as he explained the scenario. "I don't know why they wanted to meet at the store. At first, I thought, because it was close to your house. Or they wanted me to discredit you, while surrounded by Endeavor merchandise… Or maybe they wanted to demolish the store from the start, and later use it to discredit me too. It would look bad, if I was at a place, left and immediately after it got attacked by villains."

Endeavor nodded. Then he remembered something else. Hadn't Brazen said something similar…

"I think Brazen might have gotten offers from them too," he muttered more to himself than to Avalanche. "He mentioned being asked for interviews like that."

Even though he muttered mostly to himself, Avalanche replied easily. "Possible. If they asked me, they probably asked everybody in the agency."

"You're the only one who fell for it," Endeavor reminded him

Apparently, that at least seemed to fill him with shame as he avoided Endeavor's eyes once more.

"Send those messages you got to the police and the agency. Maybe they find something. And report for patrol as soon as possible."

Avalanche started at that. "I'm not fired?" he asked somewhat disbelievingly.

"I wish I could fire you," Endeavor muttered annoyed. "As you pointed out, my public approval goes down the drain and it's already hard, filling all the open positions we have so far. Silent Tracker is off on a mission for a few days, so I need you to pull double shifts. Can't really afford to let you go." He looked down at the younger hero. "But I will have an eye on you."

Avalanche swallowed. "Tomorrow," he said dryly.

He didn't sound particularly happy about not being fired. Maybe because that, at least, he could sell to his fans. Apparently, the public thought him quitting would be the coward's way out, but if he were to be fired… Well, Endeavor would not give him that satisfaction.

"I'll be back on patrol tomorrow."

"You already said that," Endeavor answered.

* * *

I didn't really get to write a lot about Avalanche yet. He's a bit different to Enji's other sidekicks. I think you may have noticed. I always intended for Avalanche to be a 'career hero'. His career and good name are very important to him so he suffers a lot from the situation. I didn't get to focus on it yet. I mentioned before, that I wanted to spend a little time exploring what the many members of the agency think about the situation. Inari and Brazen pretty much already had their chapters diving a little deeper into it. This is the same thing for Avalanche. I think he's a bit more difficult to emphasize with than the other two, because his objectives are entirely selfish. I think of all the employees he's most keen on upholding a positive image. He's pretty much obsessed with it. Unlike all the others his issues with Endeavor don't really come from a moral perspective - or even from sympathy for Shoto and co. While of course, he did not like that Endeavor hurt his family, I think for the most part it "did not concern him" ... until it did. I think that's a very natural reaction for people who hear of an instance of abuse. To think "Oh that's horrible. But it really has nothing to do with me. I'll just continue to live my life as always."

However, this time the events caught up with him. More precisely his career and he first and foremost wants to save his own skin. While it's not particularly heroic, I wanted at least one of these sidekicks to be more 'questionable' in their reasoning. This does not impact his hero-work however. He may be a bit of a questionable character in this chapter, but he is a fine 'hero'.

Also you may have realised that currently the story is moving a bit slow. ... Well i don't know if 'slow' is the right word. The plot is progressing. But it's maybe progressing in a direction you didn't expect - or didn't deem as important as to dedicate so many chapters on it. The last few and following chapters will be very much focused around this new group of villains with Endeavor himself not really doing that much. Bear with me, I have a plan.

As I said, the next chapter may be a little late, but I hope to make it on time. I'll inform you over my tumblr account if something changes for those who follow me there ( ceies). For everybody else... I guess you'll have to wait for next sunday to see. Sorry.


	44. Process in the Investigation

Ah man, the new chapter is not out yet! But there will be a chapter right? Or did I miss an announcement about a break?  
Anyway, I hope you like this chapter.

* * *

 **Process in the Investigation**

" _You don't know anything!_ "

Red hair, turquoise eyes and that vile grin from ear to ear – black hair, scars… _"_ _ **It's all your fault!**_ " Those terrible, terrible scars, stretching with his smile, rippling with every word he spoke, skin stapled together to form a grotesque image.

He was staring at himself, he thought, but then he realized…

He always needed a moment to realize. "Touya…"

 **"** **Don't call me that!"**

Dabi. The name would not pass his lips, it was stuck in his throat, lingering on his tongue, tasting of vile acid, but he could not say it. It was like there was suddenly cotton in his mouth and he could not speak anymore, couldn't spit it out – couldn't breathe.

"13th of May, I found Shoto…" Words that made no sense drifted to his ear." …Fuyumi helped me… 17th of May… I skipped school…"

The words made no sense to him and yet he could almost tell them from memory.

"Stop it," he wanted to beg, but the voice died in his throat, didn't make it past the cotton in his mouth and the mere attempt to speak almost made him gag.

" _What do you know about taking responsibility?_ "

There was cold metal to his forehead. He closed his eyes to that cruel smile, those ugly, ugly scars and the eyes of burning turquoise. The cool sensation on his skin, it felt almost welcome, like a long-lost friend he knew intimately. There was a silent clicking noise. The gun… he would die…

His _son_ is going to kill him.

He tried objecting. Half-heartedly tried to plead for his life, but his pleas did not make it past his lips. The barrel of the gun cooled his forehead that felt as if it was burning up from the inside out. He almost welcomed it.

"Stop it!"

It was not his voice. He opened his eyes to see who had spoken. Tall, strong, broad-shouldered. Spiky white hair and that frown he reserved for his father alone.

 _Natsuo_.

"You had to screw everything up!" He yelled. " _It's too late!_ I've already cut ties."

Next to him there were his two other children. Fuyumi standing to his left with an expression of almost pity on her face. Shoto standing to his right, wearing his hero costume.

The gun was still pressing to his forehead and suddenly he realized the danger. He didn't want Dabi to pull the trigger. He had so much to do, so much to make up for!

His eyes turned back to his children, pleadingly.

Help me!

Save me.

" _I forgot all about you_ ," Shoto declared coldy.

Dabi's laughter, the cool metal of the gun, that cruel clicking noise…

Suddenly, he stood upright in his bedroom. When just a moment ago he had knelt on cool and unrelenting stone, now his feet almost tripped over his blanket and mattress as he all but fell out of bed.

Enji breathed heavily, his heart was racing. Where was he? He recognized the walls of his home. But where was Dabi, where were his other children? His eyes tried finding their faces in the dark, but there was nothing there. His flames flickered to life, illuminating the darkness, but he was alone.

The whole house was empty. Only himself and his nightmares.

A noise sat him running. It wasn't loud, but it rang threateningly in his ears. He broke out of his room, almost breaking through the wall and damaging the door as he ran into the corridor and outside.

It was a screeching noise.

Only when he stood on the front porch, his chest heaving with his breath, he saw the car lights quickly distancing themselves.

It had only been the sound of tires on the street. Somebody who took a corner too quickly or maybe had to break abruptly. Knowing that calmed him down enough to realize that he stood barefoot and wearing nothing but a pair of shorts in front of his door staring into the night.

His flames were activated, he realized somewhat dejectedly. Not just activated, they were surging in his right hand. He was ready to attack. Disbelievingly and embarrassed he stared at his flames as he slowly calmed them down, before deactivating his quirk entirely.

Disbelief, embarrassment and fear. He had activated his quirk subconsciously. That should not happen. It mustn't. The last time that had happened…

It was the middle of the night. He walked back inside, knowing he couldn't afford to miss the night's rest. But when he laid back down, he knew he would not be able to sleep again.

He stared at the ceiling, wide awake. The darkness was pitch black. He didn't see anything. At some point he activated his flames again. A single flame illuminating the room, making shadows dance across the walls and ceiling.

He should go and buy sleeping pills. It couldn't go on like that. He needed his sleep if he wanted to keep doing his work or it was just a matter of time until he failed. He couldn't let these nightmares get the best of him. He rubbed his forehead, where he could still feel the metal pressed against it.

Had he wanted Dabi to pull the trigger? For a moment in his dream it had seemed as if he almost welcomed it. Just have it over with and be done with it. Not like he'd be missed, he knew, he'd probably even do them a favor. He didn't quite know who 'they' were. Rei? His children? Surely… His agency, his fellow heroes, Japan. Of course, Japan would need to find somebody else to face the next Noumu attack, not that he would be of much help in that event anyway, the way he was.

 _Stop it! Self-pity doesn't suit you! It's pathetic._

The shadows on the ceiling formed strange creatures. They twisted, flickered and reformed. A bear, a bird, the mouth of a dragon or an entryway into an empty abyss, a foaming Tsunami wave, the ruined skyline of a city after the apocalypse, a knight on horseback.

He killed the flames again, when he had enough of the twisting and reforming shadows, but still he could not sleep.

To distract himself, he took his phone from his nightstand. He checked for any messages from his agency, but there was nothing of interest. He checked the weather report, the traffic, he scrolled through his contacts without contacting anybody. Finally, he found himself on his social media account.

He had the apps all downloaded on his phone, but he never used it. He had even put the settings so they wouldn't send any push-up messages on his phone to annoy him. He had people to take care of his online presence. Why he suddenly found himself here, he didn't know. Maybe it was something Avalanche had said. Popularity was their currency, right? Of course, that could not be true. If it were so, he'd be long bankrupt.

His profile page was a vile and disgusting page, he realized. Obviously, his employees tried to filter and moderate the comments, tried to better his image, but still… There were dozens and hundreds of comments under every post they made. Vile things. Disgusting accusations, death threats, insults.

He read them with curious interest, as if they were not talking about him at all, but some stranger. Some horrible human being who had committed all those vile acts he was accused of. Some man who deserved to burn himself to death, to drown in his own fluids or to be strangled or stabbed or shot in his sleep.

He had long left his own profile page, read through so many threads and tweets and comments that his head was swimming, hardly being able to separate one comment from the last. There was no end to it, and he dug deeper and deeper into a world that made him feel dirtier and dirtier the more time he spent there. He realized, there was no way out. At some point he had enough.

His eyes were itching and there was a salty taste in his throat.

 _Pathetic!_

He refreshed the page, went back to his main page, hoping to escape all the hatred. But there it was, right on the main page. He didn't know how it worked, maybe those were just the most common posts, maybe they had tagged his name somewhere, or maybe the app had analyzed his search history and recommended posts accordingly. But right there, it continued.

He rubbed his eyes, telling himself the itching was just from how tired he felt. After all, he had hardly slept.

He hated typing on the phone. Half the time, the display registered the wrong button and he had to type the whole word again. It always needed a long time for him to type what he wanted.

"Endeavor," he typed, "hero."

He didn't know what he had expected. But as he familiarized himself with the app, he found a way to filter posts by date. He just had to go back a month…

"Still not All Might. But props to him! #Endeavor"

"Wow! did you see that jawline? *_* the fire is great and all but really I prefer Endeavor without his flames"

"Hope his eye heals fine. Damn that looks nasty! #Endeavor #Fukuoka #Getbettersoon"

"Congratulations for becoming the #NumberOneHero Endeavor! Keep up the great work!"

"Endeavor is always so grumpy! Why can't he smile? It's like he's never happy XD"

"Just flat out copied All Might's victory pose. Not bad, Endeavor. Get better soon."

"Hey, I found this old picture of my mum in middle school. Can u believe she was in class with Endeavor ? That's so cool. He was already a grumpy cat in school."

"Damn, I'm stupid! I just realized that the kid from the sports festival this year was Endeavor's son. Shoto. Aw, he's cute."

"Hey guys! Another Fanart of EndeavorxAllmight. This took forever to make. I read this Fanfic, where All Might saved Endeavor's life and… well it got hawt. Read it yourself!"

Enji stared at the artwork for several seconds. It hardly looked like him, he thought. The hair was right, the costume and fire too, but the figure was a lot lankier, almost boyish. All Might too looked more like a recent college graduate than himself. They were kissing quite intimately, which made Enji blush in embarrassment.

 _How ridiculous!_

What was he even doing? There was a reason, he had never wasted any time on this. He didn't care. Why had he searched for these now?

He was just being pathetic because he couldn't handle the situation.

He shut his phone off, threw it back on his nightstand, and turned his back to it.

When his alarm rang, he realized he must have dozed off after all. He still felt tired and as if he had been on the rack, when he turned off the alarm. He skipped both breakfast and the morning jog, and still he barely made it to work on time.

He had only just arrived on his office floor when he realized it had only been a shitty beginning to what promised to be a shittier day. Because right there waiting in Inari's office sat Dan Sato, one of the detectives investigating Natsuo's kidnapping. He was quietly talking to Inari about something innocuous. Enji didn't even bother listening in, when he walked up to Inari's office.

As soon as Sato saw him, he excused himself from Inari and followed Enji into his office.

"You didn't tell us everything," Sato complained as soon as the door closed behind him. He seemed irate and unhappy about whatever purpose had brought him to Endeavor's agency this day.

"What are you talking about?" Enji answered gruffly.

Truth be told, he was more than surprised to see Sato. He had been informed that the investigation regarding the kidnapping had ended or rather ground to a halt, as there was not much else to do unless they finally caught the League of Villains. There was a nationwide taskforce spearheaded by detective Tsukauchi that focused on that particular goal. Sato himself was not part of this taskforce, which was the reason Enji was so surprised to see him.

"Don't play with me," Sato accused frustratedly. "You and your son both omitted to tell us an important detail."

Enji already suspected he knew what he was talking about. "Be more specific", Enji demanded.

"Well, as you like." He sounded irritated and a bit aggressive. Then the detective put his thin briefcase on the Enji's table with enough force to make an audible 'clonk'. "We have a witness statement of a young woman." There was a bit of a confident flourish in his movement as he took out a few sheets of tightly printed paper, but he didn't hand the paper over to Enji. "She lives close to the area where you and Natsuo were held."

Enji frowned unhappily. "What does she say?"

"According to her," Sato was glowering at him like a hawk waiting for Enji's reaction, "Natsuo had left the house quite some time before he eventually called the police, being on visibly good terms with a person fitting Bubaigawara's description. Apparently, he so enjoyed the League's company he returned to the house almost immediately."

So, they had been watched. That was bad, though, he was admittedly surprised it had taken the police so long to get solid evidence. After all, they had already sounded suspicious when they had first interrogated him and that had been weeks ago.

"Nothing to say?"

"You should probably talk about this with my son, then," Enji answered with a half-hearted shrug.

"Oh, we will. We're currently working to get a warrant to look at his phone records in detail and investigate his movement before and after the kidnapping," Sato answered, clearly unhappy with Enji's lack of response. "I just hoped that as a hero you would show more integrity as to hinder our investigations by purposefully withholding information."

Enji didn't feel it was necessary to deny that he knew something. It would just be wasted effort. Enji knew, and Sato clearly knew that too. He would not believe Enji.

"Well, you did not interrogate me as a hero nor did I act as a hero when I went after Natsuo." He crossed his arms. "So, I'd appreciate it if you just treated me as any other person and not with that double standard. Treating me as a random victim or witness when it suits you, to exclude me from the investigation, and then come back to appeal to my position when that is more suitable."

Sato grimaced, obviously knowing that Enji was right. Enji had not acted in his capacity as a hero, nor had he ever claimed he had or used any of his authority as a hero. He had acted as a worried father and the police has treated him as such ever since they took over the case. Turning it around now and holding him up to some higher principle as a hero would never hold in front of a court.

However, just because it would not hold in front of a court, did not mean there was no merit to Sato's argument and Sato was smart enough to know another way to hurt Endeavor.

"We may not be able to force you to talk, but how do you think this would hold in front of the public?" He smiled a little, in an almost kind way. "It's not like you can take another hit to your credibility, can you?"

Enji's scowl darkened dangerously. "You wouldn't dare," he ground through his teeth. "It's an open case about the kidnapping of a teenage boy. Turning this into a smear campaign would reflect worse on your department than on me."

Maybe he realized he had changed the tone too drastically too quickly, because Sato immediately backed away. "We're just trying to solve this crime. One that you were the victim of and that might help us get a lead on the League."

Enji huffed almost amused. If there was a lead on the League of Villains, he or Tsukauchi, or one of the many other heroes and detectives involved in the case would have found something. But they had remained awfully quiet ever since the kidnapping. Which was a good thing, he presumed, but it made catching them a lot more difficult. Never mind that he feared they were preparing something big.

"A crime you're awfully close of accusing my son of," Enji said gruffly.

"Well, we both know that one of your sons is very much involved. The question is if the other is too."

" _Out!_ " Enji demanded the second the shot at Touya registered in his mind.

"What?"

"Get out of my office! And leave my agency! And if you ever want to speak to me again make arrange an appointment with my secretary!" He forcefully pointed to the door.

"You know, if we find out that Natsuo was or is involved with the League, helping with the investigation can only be to his advantage," the detective tried to dissuade him.

Enji laughed. He knew enough about these strategies to elicit a confession. "Call when you have enough to call Natsuo in for an official witness testimony," he said, following Sato to the door, mostly so to make sure he really left and didn't turn around halfway to the door again. "And don't you dare talk to my son without my consent," he bellowed after him. "I know you already did that, while I was unconscious and he was just a witness, but now I know you think of him as a potential suspect, it's not gonna happen again!"

He did not care for the angry red blush on Sato's face as he threw him out of his office and watched until he was all the way to the elevators. Then he smacked his door shut. Turning, huffing in irate anger only now realizing his flames were surging again.

Still angry he almost destroyed his phone when he called Natsuo. This time, Natsuo thankfully took the phone almost immediately.

"Todoroki, Na-"

"The police may come and visit you soon," Enji interrupted Natsuo before he could even say a single sentence.

"What are you talking about?" He sounded tired. As if he had just woken up. Maybe that was the reason he took the call so fast introducing himself with his name rather than simply ignoring the call or greeting his father with a well-placed insult.

"I just talked to Detective Sato. He suspects that you may be involved in your own kidnapping."

"Oh shit!" He suddenly sounded a lot more alert. "When?"

"He just left."

"What did you say?" He sounded panicked, Enji realized. Insecure and… something else. Something Enji couldn't quite place. He didn't linger on it.

"Nothing. They will probably try to talk to you next."

Natsuo didn't say anything for a while, but Enji could hear his erratic breathing. "Shit…," he muttered so quietly, Enji was probably not supposed to hear it. "What should I do? What's going to happen."

"You do nothing. If they come to you, call me. Don't tell them anything, don't agree to an interview, just call me. I'll send one of my lawyers."

"A… your lawyers?" At that Natsuo suddenly huffed a sarcastic laughter. "Gods… Yeah, alright." Again, his voice sounded far-away as if he was not talking into the phone and did not mean to speak to Enji. It sounded odd, almost as if he did not mean it, and suddenly Enji feared he might not listen. He feared, that Natsuo might just hate him enough, to not ask for help when he needed it.

"You hear me," he repeated more forcefully. "When they come to you, you call me!"

"Yes, I heard."

Enji was still skeptical, but there was little else he could do.

"I need to get ready for classes," Natsuo said after a short moment of silence. Thanks for the warning." He sounded distracted and ended the call before Enji could tell him anything else.

Huh…

He remembered his last conversation with Fuyumi over the phone. He had ringed her out of bed then too. Maybe it really was a viable strategy to get a decent conversation with his children? Call them when their defenses were down. Then again, that would be cowardly, right?

* * *

Ah, I couldn't stop myself from bringing a small nod at ship-culture and fanfiction in here. Funny to imagine Endeavor read an EndMight fanfic.

Anyway... I initially planned to write a I'm Watching! chapter for Natsuo regarding the police trying to talk to him. There will be more stuff in next week's chapter (if I manage to write it until then) where I also wanted to add I'm Watching chapters to give anothr perspective on... but... since I can hardly find time to write at all these days, that will have to wait. I still plan on writing them eventually, but for now, I probably won't have time until at least mid-June... Unless I'm hit by a spur-of-the-moment bout of creativity and inspiration.


	45. Revelation

And again, I have a new beta reader. I now had three different beta readers in the span of a month. This chapter and last chapter was beta-ed by  
angelheartlover.

* * *

 **Revelation**

Patrol with Avalanche was a quiet and a somewhat awkward time. It was a fairly average day, and the few incidents were solved swiftly without any real trouble. It was their newfound distrust that made this an unpleasant time.

Endeavor had arranged it so they went on patrol together to make true on his promise to keep an eye on him. He instantly regretted it shortly after they left the agency. Of course, Avalanche would act professional and not step out of line again. Endeavor being there wouldn't make a difference and it would have had the same effect if he had just sent some other sidekick. With how few things happened this day, it was just a waste of resources and personnel for Endeavor and his most senior sidekick to go on patrol together.

He truly had nothing to complain about, though. That was until almost to the end of their shift.

"I thought I told you you focused too much on what they write about you online," Endeavor said after Avalanche pulled out his phone and looked at it. He hadn't done that all day and Endeavor thought he had made a conscious effort not too. Now, however, Avalanche was frowning at something on the screen, seeming a bit distraught.

Normally, Endeavor wouldn't have said anything, but the last hours had been so quiet and awkward he was glad to use any excuse to say something. Maybe they could break the ice a little. They would have to get along again, if they wanted to work together in the future.

"Yeah…," Avalanche muttered, still focusing on his phone. Then he looked up at Endeavor. "You should see this."

He held his phone to Endeavor who only took it reluctantly, because he wasn't really interested about what was written there. His casual attitude, however, dropped almost immediately, the moment he saw what Avalanche was showing him. It wasn't a random post or comment by some disgusted fan. It was an article coming from a tabloid newspaper and blog centered around Hokkaido. The time and date showed it had just been put online about an hour ago.

" **Notorious Villain Revealed to be the Son of Number One Hero Endeavor!** ", the title read in bold letters. Below, it read:

 _"The villain known as Dabi, who is notorious for several arson-attacks all over Japan and who famously joined the villain organization, The League of Villains, earlier this year, is now revealed to be the eldest son of Enji Todoroki, better known as the number one hero Endeavor. After recent developments shone a negative light on the hero's family life, a reliable source now claims, that there may still be more dark secrets hidden regarding Endeavor and his turbulent family life."_

Below that was a picture of Touya, the young boy Endeavor remembered from years past. He was about 13 in the picture, not 17 as he had been when the incident that Endeavor had long thought had killed him happened. He didn't know where they had the picture from. Maybe it was one of the many things regarding his family life that had made its way on the internet over the last weeks. He had been furious when he first saw pictures of his children online. Not only were there pictures of Natsuo, Shoto and Fuyumi, obviously taken by paparazzi in recent days. Worse, there were old pictures that he did not know where they came from. Where their old family friends, old classmates of his children, teachers or neighbors who had found these pictures in their basements and thought to make a quick buck off of selling them online, now that the scandal was everything anybody talked about?

 _"The eldest of four children," the article continued below the picture in smaller letters, "Touya Todoroki, was said to have died of suicide just over six years ago. The truth of this information was already called into question after rumors spread that detectives of the Musutafu Police Department (MPD) reopened the old case after an incident last month that saw Endeavor recovering in hospital for almost a week._

 _Now we have information coming from a reliable source within Japan's hero society, that Touya may not only still be alive, but act as a leading member of the League of Villains. Known for his devastating fire quirk, Dabi first made national headlines after he led an attack against U.A. High School in the summer of this year. So far, concrete information about his life before that incident were well-hidden and hard to come by. Some suspected him of having a hand in a series of arson attacks in Shizuoka two years ago, but so far, the investigations into these cases have not yielded solid evidence. Now, however, we have first and exclusive information about who the villain Dabi is, where he came from and who he was, before he became a villain._

 _Earlier this week, the number one hero Endeavor called several of his fellow heroes from all over Japan to Musutafu where he – according to our source – revealed the identity of Dabi and confirmed that his true name was Touya Todoroki. It is unknown whether Endeavor knew of his son's identity from the start, or if he only found out recently. Regardless, as the two met face to face for the first time in Fukuoka, just after the attack of the modified human 'Noumu'…"_

He scrolled down, seeing that the article went on for a while, but he didn't continue reading.

"Shit…"

He gave Avalanche his phone back.

"Finish here, I have to take care of this," he told Avalanche and activated his flames to shoot away. He didn't leave Avalanche any time to say something, but he still saw the skeptical look on the snow-hero's face. Endeavor understood. After all, what did he think, how he could take care of this? There was nothing he could do.

At least, when he arrived in his agency and entered the department responsible for his PR who also monitored the goings on in the media, they were already alerted to the situation. There was a loud buzz in the whole building floor, loud enough that he heard it before he barged through an open window.

"What the hell is that?" He bellowed, pointing at a print-out of the article that was pinned to a wall. "How did that happen?"

His arrival was so sudden and his voice so loud that it made several of his employees' jump in surprise like a group of nervous chickens.

"Didn't you hear me?" He asked impatiently. It was not their fault, he knew, but he was in a bad mood.

"E-Endeavor-san," one of them finally stuttered out. "We just…ah… You were on patrol or we would have already told you."

"Yes," Endeavor said, demanding more information with an impatient quirk of his eyebrows. "And?"

"The article is… We," finally she seemed to find her bearing again, as she coughed slightly, pushing her glasses up. "As you know we planned to publicize the story on Friday. But you already mentioned, that by that point the truth might have leaked from elsewhere." She sounded nervous and stressed, but at least she was not forming proper sentences.

"Where does the information come from?" he interrupted his employee's rambling rudely.

"We don't know… Sapporo we think." She answered quickly.

Of course, it came from Sapporo. The newspaper was based there. He had hoped for a more specific answer.

"We're trying to find out. The colleagues are already calling the hero agencies in the area."

He nodded. At least that was a positive. Though, it might take some time to get a specific answer. But he had no time to wait for that.

Hurriedly he made his way to his office where he met Inari. He told him to arrange an emergency flight to Hokkaido. The secretary looked surprised, but he acted quickly.

A few short minutes after that, his phone rang. When he picked up, there was a frantic male voice on the other side of the line. It was a hero who introduced himself as Alligatora. Endeavor had never heard of him before.

"I'm so sorry," Alligatora apologized frantically. "I don't know how this could have happened."

"What are you talking about?" Endeavor asked gruffly. He could already guess, but for now he was annoyed that some random hero he did not know called him over the new emergency line instead of using proper channels. Additionally, he was even more annoyed that the hero couldn't just come to the point.

"The information about…ab-about," he stuttered pathetically, as if he feared Endeavor would kill him through the phone line, "your son. It came from my agency, I think."

"You think?!" he bellowed impatiently. "Where are you?"

"Eh…" Alligatora obviously didn't expect that question, because he needed an embarrassingly long time to catch himself. "What do you mean?"

"Your agency!" Endeavor blurted into the phone ruffling through his hair in frustration. "Are you in Sapporo?"

"No, we're based in Otaru to the west." He sounded confused by the sudden question.

"Do you know where the newspaper is located, that brought the story?" Endeavor grabbed a pen from his desk and a piece of paper. "How many heroes are in the area?"

"The Sapporo Online Magazine? It's about-," he started answering when Endeavor's second question made him stop again. "What's going on?"

"Stay alert," Endeavor answered. "We're expecting some sort of retaliation."

Endeavor could practically hear the surprise in the stunned silence that followed.

"You think the League is going to attack? In Sapporo?" He sounded shocked.

"I don't know," he answered. "I expect some sort of retaliation. If they don't attack me in Musutafu, that newspaper or your agency, if they know that's where the information is from, could be targets." He surely didn't hope so. Musutafu was a lot better equipped to deal with any sort of attack.

"We are in contact with Yoroi Musha because of that cooperation you started. He is in Sapporo."

"Inform him and the other heroes in your area," Endeavor commanded. At least having the number nine hero there would help. But he doubted it would be enough if the League really attacked. "And give me your address."

He wrote the address of Alligatora's agency down that the hero was telling him in a wobbly and insecure voice. He was obviously still young Endeavor could deduce from his voice. And the fact that Endeavor had never heard about him didn't speak for his skill either. It was obvious he was dreading an attack by the League more than Endeavor himself.

"I try to get there in time, but…," before he decided how he wanted to finish the sentence he just ended the call.

Only fifteen minutes later he sat in a private plane to Hokkaido. He was scheduled to arrive in Sapporo in just under two hours. He just hoped, he didn't make the wrong call and the League decided to attack Musutafu instead. Even then, he had already warned Edgeshot, UA and the other heroes who were close enough to intervene. He hoped that would be enough. The situation in Hokkaido was a lot worse. Yoroi Musha was the only high-profile hero in the area and in case of an attack, it could take hours for other heroes to arrive. Especially if the infrastructure in the area collapsed the way it would often do during big-scale attacks.

They had only just taken flight when Shrinking Girl's phone rang. She was the only sidekick that he took with him to Hokkaido for support.

She glanced at her phone quickly. Then she frowned at whatever the text said. Quietly she walked to the small on-board TV to turn it on. Curiously, he followed her with his eyes. He had a bad feeling when she disregarded the board entertainment program and turned the internet connection on, that would give them access to the current news.

"It started?" he asked when her silence started making him nervous.

"That was Inari. He…," her voice disappeared into nothing as she concentrated to switch through the few channels the TV offered.

Endeavor didn't ask again. Instead he started focusing on the TV, when the static snow finally gave way to an actual image. The connection to the internet was bad, but it was good enough to distinguish what was happening on screen.

* * *

I know this is a short chapter, but I decided to end it there...Wow, I almost forgot that I wanted the Dabi-reveal to be on Thursday.


	46. Retaliation

**Retaliation**

"…are already on the scene but currently…" the audio cut out when the connection wavered again "…little information…This just…and the heroes are still…"

It was a male voice trying to describe the images the TV was showing. But it was hard to understand what exactly he was trying to say. The video, however, was clear enough.

It was the shaky and unprofessional image of a Smartphone camera. A caption scrolling below the video stated that this was a live feed from the Odori Koen district of Sapporo streamed to Yap!Tube.

It was hard to make out any details. Not because the connection was bad, but because the cameraman was far away from what was actually happening, and the TV-screen was too small. It was a street. Cars and trucks stood on the road, and hundreds of people running away from the scene of the catastrophe and past the cameraman who was obviously making an effort to stay as close as he dared, until he was pushed away by a police officer. Bouts of smoke and dust curled into the sky. Every now and then, irregular explosions scattered rocks in all directions and made the cameraman jump in fright.

"Shit!"

Endeavor hadn't even realized that he had jumped up from his seat to move as close to the TV screen as he could without sticking his nose right to it. Then he abruptly turned to hurry to the cockpit. He banged against the cockpit door, until the co-pilot opened the door with a confused expression.

"How long?"

"We've just lift-off."

Endeavor impatiently pointed to the TV-screen. "There's an attack in Sapporo!"

"What is it?" he could hear the pilot ask from within the cockpit almost simultaneously.  
The co-pilot looked worried. She hurried after Endeavor to take a look at the TV. For a second, she stood there in stunned fear. Then her shoulders stretched out in a display of courage. She worked for Endeavor long enough to not be shaken by these images anymore. At least not to the point of frozen inaction.

"Shit!"

Endeavor hadn't even realized that he had jumped up from his seat to move as close to the TV screen as he could without sticking his nose right to it. Then he abruptly turned to hurry to the cockpit. He banged against the cockpit door, until the co-pilot opened the door with a confused expression.

"How long?"

"We've just lift-off."

Endeavor impatiently pointed to the TV-screen. "There's an attack in Sapporo!"

"What is it?" He could hear the pilot ask fr  
"We need at least an hour," she said calmly walking back to the cockpit. There, she said something to the pilot that Endeavor couldn't understand.

"An hour is not fast enough." Endeavor rejected her answer immediately. "In an hour, we'd be too late."

"I can't perform miracles," she said unhappily. "Never mind if the situation gets worse, we might not even be able to land in Sapporo. We may have to land in Chitose."

Endeavor stood in the door, staring at her in disbelief. "Screw that! That would just be an extra twenty minutes."

"Then let's hope Sapporo gives us permission to land. You're my passengers, and I won't risk you and this plane being blown up into pieces." The pilot yelled from his seat before demanding that his co-pilot get back to him. They closed the cockpit door again, right into Endeavor's face, that he had no other option but to go back and stare at the TV.

Shrinking Girl sat cowering in one of the seats, her phone in her hand, but she didn't even look at it. Her eyes were wide open and glued to the TV screen.

"What happened?" Endeavor asked, partly because when he looked back to the TV the footage just froze and remained still for a moment, partly to get Shrinking Girl to focus on him and get her eyes off the screen.

"I don't… Apparently it's Dabi." She pointed at a tiny bit of blue flame on the picture, that Endeavor hadn't seen yet.

"Dabi?" He came himself?

When the video unfroze and the picture started shaking again with the fearful trembling of the cameraman's hands, he could clearly make out the evidence that Dabi was in fact there. Touya…

Blue flames shot into the sky. Down the street a whole office building stood in bright flames. The street was cracked. Another building next to the office building had collapsed almost entirely.

"The attack was targeted against the offices of the Sapporo Online Magazine," the voice-over just announced. "Earlier today…published…Touya Todoroki." Again, the audio was very shaky and hard to understand.

He caught Shrinking Girl glancing at him, but then she focused back on the TV.

"The first hero to engage was Otaru based Scaled Hero: Alligatora. We…that the evacuation…has already started before…attack. We can only hope…completed."

Another explosion cut through the voice as glass splintered and broke in nearby windows. A body suddenly came hurling at the evacuation line that the police held, where the cameraman stood as well. A hero with a red and green costume crashed into the pavement where he remained motionless. A white Noumu came crawling after him at an agonizingly slow pace. The phone picked up the noises of gunshots going off. That was probably the police. Then another hero engaged the Noumu in battle and managed to drag him further back from the crowd again, until it was hard to make out his shape on the small TV.

"THERE!" Somebody, maybe the cameraman suddenly screamed over the noise of the battle. What he was referring to only became obvious, when in that moment Yoroi Musha appeared for just a small second before he vanished in a cloud of dust and fire again.

"There's the number nine hero, Yoroi Musha!" The news anchor cheered the name as if victory was already a guarantee. But Endeavor wasn't so sure.

Endeavor scanned the destruction the camera was picking up. There were clear signs of Dabi's fire, although he hadn't yet seen him. He had also already seen the white Noumu and the scale of the destruction suggested, there might also be a black one somewhere, although Endeavor hadn't seen that one yet. But there was no sign of Shigaraki's Decay yet. Maybe Dabi and the Noumu had really come alone. Hopefully! The heroes on scene around Yoroi Musha might be able to deal with Dabi and a Noumu, if the rest of the League stayed out of this.

His eyes slipped to a digital clock over the cabin door of the plane. Hardly five minutes had passed. His hands fiddled in his lap and his legs were twitching impatiently. All he could do was sit here and wait. There was nothing else to do but hope that they came in time. Alligatora and Yoroi Musha knew he was coming. Were they waiting for him? Were they trying to buy time so he could maybe come in time to intervene?

Repeatedly his eyes slipped between the TV and the clock, fearing… knowing there was no way he would arrive in time. He couldn't do anything… Just watch.

This was his son, destroying a city, attacking innocent people. It was Endeavor's job to protect them. But how could he, when he was still so far away?

He was the number one hero…but there was nothing he could do. Just watch, and wait, and pray. At the moment he was as useful as any other civilian sitting at home, waiting for this nightmare to end.

He was watching the clock, when a sudden cracking noise made him turn to the TV again. In sheer horror he watched a house collapse in on itself. It wasn't a big building, but it was too close to the civilians that were still held back by the police. Maybe that was what triggered the sudden panic. It was as if until now they were afraid to get hurt, but they also wanted to remain close enough to watch the fight. Now suddenly, panic took over and people turned away abruptly. Some of them were caught by falling rocks, others were crushed and fell in the chaos. The video was too shaky to make out the details, but some gruesome imagery still made it clear enough to guess what happened. Then suddenly the video cut off.

For a moment Shrinking Girl and he just stared at a black screen, then the familiar studio of the news show appeared. It wasn't a channel Endeavor normally watched. He didn't know the news anchor who stood at the desk staring wide-eyed into the distance, maybe watching the same video they had taken straight from Yap!Tube. Only after a moment did he realize that he was now live.

"It seems, this is where the footage from the unknown streamer on Yap!Tube ends. Hopefully, they just switched off their camera." His voice sounded shaky as he was visibly trying to collect himself. "We have already sent a team to Sapporo to…" It was at that moment that both video and tone froze again.

Shrinking Girl hit the TV in frustration, but it took a bit longer until the connection was reestablished. They still saw the studio. To the right of the anchor, there was a still image of the destroyed street, with the caption "Attack in Sapporo" below it, but nothing happened. For a moment Endeavor thought the picture was frozen again. But then the anchor moved a bit.

"We apologize that we currently don't have video footage," he said quietly. "We were just informed that it is now confirmed that the attack was targeted against the Headquarter of the Sapporo Magazine and the Sapporo Online Magazine. Earlier today the newspaper published an article on its website about the true identity of the villain known as Dabi. They claimed that Dabi is in fact Touya Todoroki, oldest son of number one hero, Endeavor. This attack by Dabi seems to be an act in retaliation to that article." There was another awkward pause after he said that.

It was quite obvious that they had already sent a team to the scene but couldn't yet get any footage and with the footage from Yap!Tube ending, all they could do was wait. They decided at that moment to put another person on screen to fill the silence. A young woman hardly old enough to have graduated college appeared next to him.

"So far, we have very little information about the current situation in Sapporo." There was a short pause, then the newly arrived female anchorwoman described the situation for all those who had just turned on the TV just now.

"We are currently waiting for more information regarding the League of Villains attack in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Roughly twenty minutes ago there was a series of explosions surrounding the offices of the Sapporo Online Magazine in the Odori Koen District of Sapporo. Thankfully villains were at the scene immediately, already starting the investigation. Currently, we can only assume that the heroes were tipped off to this attack beforehand, which would explain their quick response. The attacker was now identified as the League of Villains Dabi, as well as a number of the creatures we now call 'Noumu'. We don't yet know how many Noumu's are among the attackers. The first hero to engage was Alligatora from Otaru. Now, the number nine hero Yoroi Musha also joined the fight." As she explained, they looped some of the footage from the Yap!Tube video.

"Everybody in the affected area, please follow police orders regarding the evacuation process."

She wanted to turn to ask her colleague to continue when the man perked up a little. "There is now new information," he announced. "We were just informed that the evacuation earlier today started after a conversation between the heroes Endeavor and Alliagatora. Alligatora was obviously tipped off to the danger. We do not know if the warning came from Endeavor directly or if Alligatora acted based on a hunch."

"If it was just a hunch, we can only be glad Alligatora trusted his instincts. That might have saved many lives today."

They went quiet again.

For a minute it seemed like they were communicating with somebody off-camera , then, they turned to the audience again. "It seems we finally have a new connection to Sapporo. Chiro-san?"

"Yes, thank you, Mazuda-san." In fact, they now saw a birds-eye view of Sapporo. It was a lot easier to make out what was happening. Another young woman, obviously the one called Chiro, was in the picture, her hair flapping around widely despite the knot she tied it in. She was in a helicopter above the battle scene. When the camera turned, to focus on the city, Endeavor could finally see the scale of the destruction.

"Oh god!" He heard Shrinking Girl call out in shock. "That's as bad as…" She did not finish the sentence and Endeavor was almost thankful. He feared this was worse than Kamino or Fukuoka. After all, during both incidents they had managed to defeat the villains. The destruction had been horrible, but the evacuation effort had been mostly successful making the losses almost entirely of financial nature. This time, the destruction did not look as bad. Only a single street showed actual signs of collapsed buildings, with smoke and dust wafting into the sky. But there were signs of fighting throughout the entire Odori Koen district.

Endeavor respected Yoroi Musha's skills as a hero who was also his elder. But there was no way he alone could deal with Dabi and multiple Noumu and whatever else the League might or might not have sent. Yoroi Musha was just one person who could not be at multiple places at once. And apart from Yoroi Musha there were hardly any strong heroes in all of Hokkaidou. It was one of the regions with the lowest hero presence in the entire country.

"I'm here in Sapporo, where the League of Villains has just attacked a local newspaper agency. As you can see the fighting has now spread over the entire east of the city. The heroes are trying to do the best, and Yoroi Musha is currently engaging the villain Dabi. The police have issued an official warning and evacuation order fifteen minutes ago, obligating everybody living between the 6th and 9th block to evacuate their houses. Please follow the recommendations of the officials. Everybody else is asked to remain at home, until further notice."

The helicopter was trying to get a bit closer to the fiery center of the battlefield but then had to swerve away again, to avoid a giant cloud of smoke.

"Currently the creatures known as the White Noumu are attacking the civilians at random. Please do not engage and flee on sight. The police created an emergency hotline to request rescue or help." The number was shown on the bottom right corner of the TV.

"There!" The camera focused on something in the midst of the flames, when the reporter pointed at it.

Dabi… Touya…

Endeavor only got a glimpse of him, before the flames obscured his shape again and the cameraman decided to focus elsewhere. They got the footage of a hero with animal features battling a Noumu and focused on that a bit. Then they had to dodge a sudden beam of light, when another hero's attack shot wide and almost hit them.

"This is horrible…," the reporter said quietly. "Look, there." She had a somber tone when the camera moved again.

A big wall, the remains of a building that was already destroyed crumbled in on itself and buried a group of maybe eight or ten civilians under the rubble. Endeavor was sure that at least half of them must have died instantly. The camera was too far away to say for sure. It lingered on the scene only for a moment, nobody said anything. Then it turned again to focus on a white Noumu jumping from roof to roof without anybody stopping it.

Part of Endeavor didn't want to continue watching. But not-watching would be just as difficult. This way, he could at least make himself believe that he was doing something useful. Analyzing the battlefield and the enemy even if it was almost impossible to make out details, never mind the Noumus' quirks. Shrinking Girl and he watched in utter horror, as the fighting continued.

Yoroi Musha apparently had decided on a different strategy. At some point, he abandoned his battle with Dabi focusing more on evacuation and hindering the destructive Noumu than on actually bringing down the villains. Although it was a hard choice to make, as it left Dabi to roam freely, it ultimately proved to be a good decision. Dabi did not seem to have any inclination to actively participate in the fight more than necessary. Maybe, Endeavor thought, he was also exhausted from his fight with Yoroi Musha and needed to cool down. In any case, he seemed to remain where he was, focusing on turning the Sapporo Online Magazine's headquarters into a smoking pile of ash and charcoal. Since from the way it looked on TV there was little chance anybody still lived in that building, while the Noumu were the ones causing the actual destruction in the city attacking both civilians and police and spreading throughout the city, Endeavor agreed that it was more important to stop them for now.

With that new strategy of Yoroi Musha and the other heroes focusing on the Noumu, and only keeping an eye on Dabi in case he wanted to join the fight again, slowly but surely, they had some success. Only a little though. The camera caught a good view of a team of two heroes finally taking down a white Noumu. Chiro, the journalist, cheered when the Noumu went down. Endeavor only felt more dread.

The ordinary civilian, and from the way Chiro cheered, the media as well had understandably no real understanding of the massive difference in power between the white Noumu and the black Noumu. At this point, Endeavor had formed a picture of the heroes and villains currently engaged in battle and had come to the conclusion that there were probably two black Noumu. On the other hand, he had only counted ten heroes so far, including Yoroi Musha and a man with moss green reptile-like scales, who he assumed was Alligatora. New reinforcement was probably arriving from neighboring cities any minute, he assumed, but still. Yoroi Musha, Alligatora and a third hero Endeavor didn't know were trying to stop the two black Noumu but it was obvious that the best they could do was to hold them back and protect the civilians. From what Endeavor could see, it seemed these two were not quite on par with the one he had fought in Fukuoka. They were not as destructive. But still…

Maybe on his own Yoroi Musha would be able to take down one of these Noumu, but two? And he was already exhausted from his battle against Dabi. Alligatora looked almost worst. The few times Endeavor saw him appear on screen, he was bleeding from many wounds on his body, his green scales tinted dark red. He had tried fighting one of the black Noumu alone, when Yoroi Musha was still engaged against Dabi, and he had severely paid for it. Part of Endeavor couldn't help but acknowledge the hero's courage and unwavering spirit, that he hadn't abandoned the fight yet, although being so utterly outmatched and visibly already on the brink of exhaustion.

The camera turned from the white Noumu that had just been defeated to Dabi. They hadn't caught him on camera for the last ten minutes. Now, they saw him abandoning the newspaper headquarters and strolling down the abandoned city, hands in his pockets. From the way he looked from afar… was he whistling a tune? Dancing to the melody of his destruction. Endeavor's eyes narrowed, scrutinizing. There was a spring in his step.

"He's…dancing?" Shrinking Girl asked out loud in that same moment, her face pale. "How can he be dancing?" there was disbelief in her voice.

Endeavor had come to the same conclusion. Dabi looked like he was in a good mood. His eyes narrowed. His son…

This was his son.

How could he do something so horrible? Even enjoy it?

He couldn't help but remember his meeting with Dabi...Touya…Dabi. The gun against his forehead and the accusations. Endeavor's fault. He had made him a monster. He had blamed Endeavor for his transgressions, and Endeavor had rejected that blame. This was the monster he was talking about. But how was that possible? How could that sweet, righteous, sometimes moody kid turn into this cruel maniac who seemingly enjoyed the death and destruction he created?

How could this be Touya?

"Endeavor!"

Shrinking Girl's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. His hands were shaking he realized. And his forehead…He rubbed the skin where he could still feel the cool barrel of the gun pressed against the skull.

"Endeavor?"

"Hm?" She asked him, as if she was expecting an answer. "What is it?"

Instead of repeating the question she frowned worried. "Are you alright?"

"Sure." The answer came automatically. He didn't even think about how wrong it was, not just because he clearly did not feel alright, but also because no sane person would be alright in a situation such as this. The TV still showed the devastation the Noumu left behind.

Shrinking Girl looked skeptical, then she turned back to the TV not bothering to repeat whatever question she had before.

It was then that he ran out of patience. He jumped from his seat running up to the cockpit again.

"How long?" he bellowed banging against the door.

"Ten minutes, and we have landing permission." the pilot announced through the speakers. Endeavor glowered at the speakers as if he felt insulted the man hadn't come out to talk to him in person, then he grunted in acknowledgement. He was about to ask if they knew anything about the situation regarding the immediate vicinity of the airport, when-

"NO!"

Shrinking Girl's outcry made him turn around. She sat pale and in shock with her hands over her face, staring at the TV. With three long steps he was next to her to get a clear view on what she was looking at. There on the screen, he could just see a glimpse of Alligatora, the green scales drenched in red blood and what he thought might be his own intestines ripping out of his body, before the camera quickly turned away from the gruesome scene.

"What was that?" Endeavor asked, his voice hushed and quiet. He hadn't seen correctly. He had just caught a glimpse of it, so he turned to Shrinking Girl in silent horror.

She needed a moment to answer. "It just…That Noumu…," Her voice was all over the place trembling in shock and horror. "It was suddenly…He…"

"Focus!" he bellowed unkindly and feeling almost immediately ashamed, when she jumped in her seat.

"He tripped I think." She finally formed a sentence. "Alligatora. I don't know he must have lost his balance and the Noumu was suddenly there…" She pointed at her stomach. "He ripped him open."

Endeavor cringed. So, he had seen it correctly. Just an hour ago he had been mad at the man. His agency had leaked the information about Dabi. He had screwed up and part of Endeavor had blamed him for the attack when it happened, even if he had tried not to think about that. Now he was dead? On death's door?

He was back at the cockpit door in an instant. "You land in Chitose!" He ordered through the door. Apparently the co-pilot was so surprised. She jerked the door open staring at him with big eyes.

"We're already descending." She explained. "We have permission to land."

"I know. But Shrinking Girl and I will jump out as soon as we are over the city. You will be safest if you continue to Chitose."

"We're too fast and this plane is not made…," she started to reject, but stopped when he glared at her.

"Of course." She looked back into the cockpit conversing with the pilot. "Be ready in three minutes. We'll give you a signal."

"You're mad!" Shrinking Girl yelled from the back. "We're way too fast and I can't fly."

"Then put your seatbelt on and stay," Endeavor suggested, but Shrinking Girl had despite her complaints already unbuckled and positioned herself next to the door.

"You'll have to shield me."

"Of course."

When a loud peep rang through the plane, he yanked the door open, pulled Shrinking Girl close, and together they jumped.

Wind came rushing past his ears. Shrinking Girl was screaming something, but he hardly heard it over the loud whoosh in his ears. They were falling.

"Slow down! Slow down!"

Finally, he understood the words she screamed again and again. He activated his quirk to stop his descent. Tears stung in his eyes from the cold wind.

He tried to orient himself, where exactly over Sapporo he was. Down below the city was sprawling and… "There!" It seemed both him and Shrinking Girl saw the cloud of smoke immediately. It was an obvious landmark to help them orient themselves. He turned and dashed downwards.

Shrinking Girl screamed in surprise, then she shrank to the size of a mouse hiding under the shoulder pads of Endeavor's costume where he extinguished his flames, so she was safe.

Like a comet he came crashing down to earth, orienting himself again when he got the clear view of a Noumu who still held Alligatora in his grasp. It didn't see the flame hero coming. Endeavor sped up again and then smashing down on the Noumu's head with punishing force and raging fire, he caught it completely off-guard.

Shrinking Girl jumped out from under his armor to catch Alligatora before he could crash to the ground. She dragged the dying man away. Leaving Endeavor enough space to heat up some more and incinerate the creature's upper body in a single attack.

He straightened again, his hands already covered in ash, dust and blood. Looking up, he caught sight of the network helicopter. So far, he had followed the battle from the perspective of this helicopter. It helped him map-out the city of Sapporo and where the villains were.

"Get him to the first-responders. Then there should be a white Noumu up north," Endeavor said to Shrinking Girl. "I try to find the other black one. As soon as you "

"Understood!"

He hardly heard her response as he was already dashing to where he expected to find Yoroi Musha and the other black Noumu.

Immediately he was annoyed. Had the heroes of Hokkaido acted sooner and already set up the emergency network that would help them coordinate their attack between agencies as he had suggested, he would have already been able to contact Yoroi Musha and ask him where he was needed. The way it was now, he just hoped he was making the right decisions.

He ran eastwards. Some civilians were running in the opposite direction, past him to what they hoped was safety, others stared at him and then tried to remain in his vicinity, hoping he might keep them safe. Mostly though, it seemed like this street at least was already evacuated. Or the people hid at home, praying the Noumu wouldn't find them and their houses wouldn't collapse on top of them.

Around a corner and there! He jumped in surprise, when a hero – he assumed one of Yoroi Musha's sidekicks – was smashed through a wall by the black Noumu. Yoroi Musha himself emerged from the rubble opposite the Noumu. He didn't even register Endeavor's presence as he charged while simultaneously using his quirk to reform the broken armor on his torso. A big sturdy looking shield appeared out of nowhere just a split second before he and the Noumu clashed.

The two adversaries seemed to almost be at a stalemate. The Noumu was stronger, and it pushed Yoroi back with ease. The force of its punches smashed through the hero's shield, but I did not get past the armor. Yoroi Musha was forced backwards into the rubble, but when the villain's fist retreated to charge again, the hero simply reformed his armor and shield ready for the next clash. This time, his armor came equipped with spikes.

Before it could come to the second clash, Endeavor attacked just when the Noumu retreated. It was only then Yoroi Musha realized that Endeavor had arrived.

"There are civilians behind me!" he yelled to Endeavor pointing to a small half ruined building behind him. "Grand Architect!"

The other hero, who Endeavor still assumed was Yoroi Musha's sidekick, jumped back up from where he had been thrown through a concrete wall. "On it!" Without hesitation he ran into the building to finally help the civilians hiding there.

Endeavor understood at once. He and Yoroi Musha would take down the Noumu while Grand Architect evacuated the civilians. It seemed Yoroi Mucha and his sidekick had just waited for the opportunity to save them.

Endeavor didn't say anything to the plan, as there was no need to. He simply attacked the Noumu again, forcing it back with his flames. The Noumu was as quick as it was fast, nimbly retreating backward. It looked at Endeavor making the hero shudder. This one reminded him of the one in Fukuoka, he realized. The way it looked at him like it was scrutinizing Endeavor like he was prey. It opened its mouth.

"Hot!" It didn't say anything else. It didn't speak to Endeavor, but it could talk. This beast… it was intelligent too… There was the proof that the League had multiple of these smart ones.

He charged his attack and…

"Not so fast."

In the very last second he redirected his attack to negate the bright blue flames that had clearly aimed for the house with the civilians inside.

Dabi!

He came sauntering around the corner, a spring in his step and swagger in his movement. "Fancy seeing you here, Daddy dearest," he said with a sardonic smile. Endeavor stared at him in shock. He had not expected him to get involved. Why would he get involved now after just watching for all this time… But of course, Endeavor knew. He had just waited for-

He had gotten distracted. The Noumu's fist smacked him right in the chest hurling him across the street and into a wall. Shit! What a childish mistake to get distracted so easily.

"Focus!" Yoroi Musha warned. Endeavor was angry with embarrassment that he had screwed up like that.

"Yes! Focus!" Dabi laughed and attacked again.

As if Endeavor was not yet embarrassed enough, Yoroi Musha stepped in the way, blocking the attack with a shield as big as a man.

"Get a grip, Endeavor!" he demanded.

"I know!" Endeavor pushed himself back on his feet, charging past Yoroi Musha at the Noumu, before it could attack Yoroi Musha who remained steadfastly blocking Dabi's attack. The building Endeavor had crashed into and that Yoroi Musha was now protecting was the one the civilians and now Grand Architect too were hiding in.

Endeavor actually got a hit in against the Noumu, but its burned arms regenerated quickly. When he threw a quick glance at Yoroi Musha he saw his shield glowing red hot from the heat and the hero himself sweating and breathing heavily. He couldn't hold out long against the heat.

"Dabi stop!" Endeavor ordered loudly, charging at his son.

Dabi had to let go of Yoroi Musha, then, instead he blasted his flames against Endeavor to brave his attack. Red and blue flames clashed in a magnificent display of heat and power. Endeavor increased the force of his attack. He was quickly overwhelming Dabi, but then the Noumu jumped in again, charging at Endeavor. He had to stop his attack to dodge.

He didn't have time to assess the Noumu's quirks yet. Strength and speed enhancement and a regeneration quirk in any case. He didn't know what other tricks it might have. At least, however, it seemed as if it was a close combat fighter. That made it a lot easier compared to the one he had fought in Fukuoka. That one he had hardly been able to even catch up to. This one came close himself. Endeavor caught his attack with a Flashfire Fist right to the face. It wasn't dead yet, but then Yoroi Musha came from behind severing its spine. Dabi jumped in to use the opening when both heroes focused on the Noumu but Endeavor was there to catch his attack again.

"Damn you!" Dabi cursed. His good mood from before was quickly deteriorating, Endeavor realized.

The Noumu retreated a bit, its movement sluggish and slow as it hadn't yet completely regenerated from the wound Yoroi Musha had dealt him. It had staggered past Dabi when it was suddenly hit by a stream of yellow liquid. It stank horribly of decaying flesh. Endeavor raised his hand to his nose turning from the stench to look at the hero who had intervened. Up on the rooftop behind him there was a hero with a purple and white costume.

"Acid Canon!" he proclaimed the name of his attack. Endeavor had never seen him.

He turned back to Dabi. He stood over the Noumu, who's regeneration quirk raced against the acidic powers of the liquid covering him. Dabi looked furious, but when he looked back at Endeavor, he still stretched those horrible scars into a wide smile.

Endeavor activated his quirk, his flames surging higher, preparing for an attack. "That's enough, Dabi," he said.

Dabi laughed. He looked from Endeavor to Yoroi Musha who was catching his breath and reforming his armor, prepared to continue the fight as well. Briefly, Dabi's smile wavered than broadened again. "Screw you!" His eyes flickered towards the building. Endeavor reacted in a split-second and still almost too late, to stop the horrid blue flames hurling towards the building, with his own orange ones.

He had to stop.

He increased the power of his flames again. The orange and blue clashed once more. This time, Dabi poured everything into the attack, he overwhelmed Endeavor's flames. Endeavor drew his flames back a little, spread them over a bigger area, tried to manipulate the oxygen in the air to… He was himself surprised when it worked and Dabi's flames, instead of engulfing both him and Yoroi Musha as well as the building behind them, got misdirected just enough to keep them safe.

Dabi cursed, confused what had just happened, when Endeavor quickly attacked again. There was no way, the villain would be able to keep up these powerful flames for a longer time, he knew. After all, he knew Dabi's weakness.

Dabi had to stop. If he didn't stop…

This time, he overwhelmed the boy's blue fire. And now he had him. He quickly closed the distance between the two. Only one more attack and he had him.

If Dabi didn't stop himself, he needed to be stopped.

But Endeavor's final attack never came. He had it all prepared. But then the smoke cleared just a little bit and Endeavor was close enough to see…to see his face. And he couldn't. Before he knew what was happening, the raging heat in his flames had receded and he was just staring at the boy. And the boy stared back, shocked at first, then angry.

For just a brief moment, Endeavor had seen fear in his eyes. Just a second, fleeting, maybe only his imagination. He couldn't do it.

He couldn't stop him.

His hands were trembling when he looked into these turquoise eyes, almost the same as his own. Those scars, the small pieces of metal, stretching his skin apart or maybe stitching it together – he didn't know. He remembered the last time he saw Dabi, with the gun against his head and those terrible scars and hateful eyes. He didn't remember the last time he saw Touya. Had he seen him the day of his death-supposed death? Had they met in the morning, before Touya went to school and Endeavor to work, or had Endeavor left for work early and only seen Touya the day before?

He lifted his hand without even thinking about it. The same hand with which he had wanted to punch Dabi earlier. Now it stretched toward his son, towards his face, or his shoulders or his chest. To hold him.

For a second, he almost thought he would succeed. For a second, he almost thought he had him. Then the boy seemed to realize what Endeavor was doing. He stepped back hurriedly, panicked. He almost tripped over the slowly regenerating Noumu. His flames activated again.

He would kill him. Endeavor knew it for sure. He was too close to evade and his quirk was essentially turned off. He would not have enough time to counterattack. And even if he succeeded, he was too close to make sure his counterattack would not kill the boy. How stupid, he had been to lose his cool like that! He had essentially thrown the fight right then. The boy would kill him as he had done a hundred times in his dreams. And just like in his dreams, Endeavor was almost ready for it.

He heard quick steps behind him. Probably Yoroi Musha to make a quick and doomed attempt to save him.

Safe him…?

Right? He did not want to die. He wanted to be saved. How could he atone, if he was dead?

"You need to stop," he told the boy. "Dabi…" No… "Please stop, Touya."

Touya stared at him in disbelief and anger. "I told you, my name is—"

But his hesitation had given Yoroi Musha enough time. With crushing force, the Equipped Hero tackled Touya, smashing him into the ground and holding him there. Touya was bleeding from the head, but he hadn't lost consciousness. Suddenly the Noumu got involved again, kicking Yoroi Musha off his comrade and then charging at Endeavor, who quickly launched a counterattack.

"Ujiko!" He heard the familiar name, just as the attacks of his counterattack were receding again. Wasn't that the same name Dabi had called out in Fukuoka?

He was fleeing!

"NO!" Endeavor begged screaming. He ran towards the voice, but when his view cleared again, Dabi and the Noumu were gone.

He stared at the empty space in front of him where he had just missed his son again.

"He's gone," Yoroi Musha said with a lot of frustration and bit of relief in his voice. "You let him go away."

Endeavor wanted to punch him.

* * *

Wow! So this was a long one. I really hope you like it. I felt very insecure about this but everybody I asked told me it was okay. There's a bunch in this story that I didn't actually do before. Like witnessing the fight over the TV and then going in to help. Also, did I ever tell you how nervous I always get when I have to write the media. Both the news reports and the newspaper articles and even the social media posts make me really nervous.

This chapter is really long, and I thought about splitting it, but I decided that I just want this to be one chapter. Originally I wanted this and the last chapter to all happen in one chapter, and I already split that part. I just didn't want to split what felt like one chapter into three.

So I really hope you like it as well. And... I guess the truth is now finally out.


	47. Aftermath

Hello,

I hope you're all fine in these complicated times. This again is a bit of a shorter chapter, but I still hope it can sweeten the time a little - and maybe help the waiting time for the next MHA chapter.

Holy moly I'm really starting to worry about Endeavor. I still think, he should survive, but at this point as soon as Dabi gets into the mix I'm going to mentally prepare myself for my favorite character to die. Well... anyway that's MHA, back to this story.

There are some issues regarding the content of this story that I will delve in after the chapter. I'd like to hear your opinion on that. But for now, have fun.

* * *

 **Aftermath**

 _"Please stop, Touya."_

The quality of the recording was very bad. The news camera had caught his and Yoroi Musha's battle with Dabi. They had been so far away that even zoomed in as close as they could the details were difficult to make out, the audio was even worse. In the original live broadcast it had been impossible to hear the voices over the noises of the city, the battles, emergency sirens, as well as Chiro's comments. Now, two days later somebody had polished the footage, tweaked and isolated the sound, sharpened the colors and contrasts and came up with a result that not only showed the battle in detail but had also captured most of their dialogue. It was an ugly video with unrealistic, sharp colors and a lot of static noises that gave you headaches. But it was good enough to follow the conversation.

Enji stood in the door to his living room. He had kept the TV running for some background noise. Now it was time for the news again, and once more they replayed the footage of the battle. Irritated, he walked over to turn the TV off.

Until today most of the news coverage had been on point and focused on what had actually happened. The destruction, the losses, the burials of the deceased, the reconstruction, and the motive. Now, as the new footage emerged and the facts had been repeated non-stop for 48 hours, they had found their new point of interest: Endeavor's now confirmed connection to the villain Dabi.

The news had been surprisingly void of any criticism. He'd been the one to rush in to help in the battle and finally end it. Had it not been for his late but ultimately still-in-time efforts, who knew how much worse it could have been. The experts on TV were aware of that. The masses on the internet were not. The internet, he now knew, was not a kind place especially not to him, and it was some guy on Yap!Tube who had uploaded the first audio-file about Endeavor's and Dabi's conversation, starting the debate about whether or not Endeavor as the villain's father was to blame for any of his actions. It had quickly deteriorated into speculations of whether Enji had let Dabi go until somebody mentioned that Dabi had already gotten away from him in Fukuoka. And that had started the whole mess he now had to deal with.

In the whole scandal one part of the discussion was surprisingly lost or ignored entirely: What bad things must Endeavor have done to push his son to these actions? Few people, if any, were trying to diminish Dabi's blame by portraying him as the victim, but many people put blame on Endeavor additionally to Dabi's blame. Not so much because he had pushed Dabi to such a horrible act, but because he had failed to stop it.

At least that was what his PR-team had informed Enji of. Tomorrow the situation could change, he knew. That was probably the main reason he didn't overly concern himself with the news reports, hate mail, and invitations to interviews he now got so many off. His mailbox was flooded both at work and at home. He didn't remember the last time, public opinion shifted so massively and so quickly. Three days ago, their hatred for him had almost been forgotten already, the criticism against his person had still been rampant in the online realm, but life moved on. Then for just a brief moment, they hailed him a hero, only to start doubting him again and now hating him with more vigor than before. Public opinion, he realized, was a fickle thing.

He ignored most of it. Even the paparazzi that were camping outside his house again. He wondered how long that would last, before the next scandal caught their attention.

He shut the lights off, went to his bedroom and tried to sleep. He was tired, but he didn't sleep well. Some paparazzi – he assumed it was a paparazzi – had not bothered to turn their car lights off and it shone right through his window illuminating the room bright as daylight. He did not know whether it was on purpose, but halfway through the night, he abandoned his bed and went to sleep in Natsuo's old room that was on the upper floor and with a window to the other side.

He still couldn't quite sleep staring at the cabinet to the side where he could just make out the silhouettes of the origami figures and the soccer cup. He waited until the sky was just light enough to see that one of the figures was a horse or something similar, before he stood up and went to get some breakfast.

There were people outside his agency too, some journalists and paparazzi, but also just some random people screaming things at him he didn't understand. They weren't there the day before, and he didn't know if their rage would last long enough to be there tomorrow. He didn't care for them, he tried to tell himself.

His employees tried not to let anything show on their faces. That part was a bit more difficult to swallow. So many had quit after the truth about his abuse had come out before, and he had somewhat naively thought, those who had remained would be loyal, maybe saw him as a changed man or saw his efforts. Avalanche's betrayal should have made it obvious, that he was wrong in that regard. Now, he couldn't deny it anymore. They had watched the news, too, read the social media blogs, watched rants against him on Yap!Tube and now they were judging him too. They were here because he paid them. He should not forget that.

When he went to patrol a little later, the crowd outside had already been dispersed by the police. The media was still there asking for his statements or just trying to get a picture of him in a compromising position.

And then there was… What did they call themselves? Justice for Natsuo. JfN the police now dubbed them, just for convenience even though Endeavor would rather call them differently. They were still active. While he was patrol, they attacked the agency building. Threw rocks through the windows and then fled before he or his sidekicks could even react.

The next day was just as bad.

"Dabi's quirk does resemble Endeavor's," he heard the voice of a man come from the radio-speakers as Matsuura drove him to a meeting with Ebony fall in Tokyo to speak about any progress in the Best-Jeanist-case.

A woman answered: "Did you know there is a theory, that the quirk affects the personality. It's obviously a volatile quirk."

"You're suggesting, Endeavor did not just pass his quirk but also his temperament to his son?"

"It's a very powerful quirk." It was not a news show, just casual banter between too songs, Endeavor thought. "Flashy quirks such as Hellflame are what most children wish for. To become a hero. Me and my foresight quirk, that's more difficult. But really it's also very dangerous?"

Endeavor huffed in annoyance. The woman was obviously still young. Nowadays, as soon as a kid had a suitably flashy quirk, people would start to fawn over them, how great a hero they would be. It wasn't always like that.

"Do you think we should restrict those powerful quirks more?" The man asked sounding interested.

"It's just very dangerous. Not just because of people like Dabi. After all, that fire in Musutafu a few days ago, was started by a kid not able to handle their fire-quirk."

Annoyed, Endeavor told Matsuura to shut the radio off.

There was not much news regarding Best Jeanist. The trip to Tokyo was a bit of a waste, but on his way back he dosed off for an hour or so. He didn't remember the last time he had a good night's rest. So at least that made the trip worth it. He still felt dead tired when they arrived in Musutafu.

His mood was soured again when Matsuura opened his door and pointed at the opposite wall, while Endeavor exited the car. There, somebody – he assumed JfN had smeared the words "Justice for Natsuo, Justice for Touya" across a wall just across the street from his agency.

It was the first time, somebody even only suggested, Touya might be a victim and Endeavor might be to blame for his actions.

He told his staff to arrange the clean-up and send the CCTV footage of the incident to the police. Then he went home early, because he could hardly stay upright.

At home, however, he still could not sleep.

Nothing had changed, he tried to tell himself. Nothing had changed between now and two days ago, or even two weeks ago. He had after all known that Touya was Dabi. The only thing that had changed, was that now everybody knew. And he did not care, he told himself again and again, about their opinions.

So, why could he still not sleep?

He jumped in surprise as his phone rang. At first, he wanted to throw the phone against the wall. Then he realized, it was his private phone, the private number that nobody but those close to him knew, so whoever called was not just one more journalist to demand an interview.

Pulling the phone out and looking on the name on-screen, he stopped surprised, before he took the call.

"Fuyumi?"

For a moment he could not quite believe that she had actually called him. She hadn't done that in forever. Since he had told her about Touya.

"Hi Dad," she greeted shyly. Her voice was so quiet, he could hardly hear it.

"Hi," he answered looking at the clock. It was still fairly early in the evening. It just hadn't felt like it, because he was so tired.

"Can we…Can we meet?"

He was so stunned by the question he didn't answer immediately.

"I mean, I could come over," she backtracked almost immediately. He only now realized, that she did not sound shy, but nervous. "It's just that…eh…with the paparazzi at your house, I thought…well, never mind."

"No," he said quickly, already jumping from his bed where he had laid down to sleep.

"Oh…eh…then sorry for the call I didn't…" She misunderstood him.

"No, I mean, I'll come over. Right now?" He was already halfway to his bathroom to make himself somewhat presentable.

"I mean, unless you have to work, or it is too late."

The way she sounded, he almost thought, she wanted him to give some excuse why he could not come over.

"No, I'll be there in fifteen minutes…," he hesitated. "Half an hour, I need to get past the paparazzi," he joked. She didn't laugh.

"Great," she sounded more nervous than happy. "I'll send you the address. Ring at Kawasaki."

The name didn't tell him anything. "Who's Kawasaki?" He asked curiously not wanting to end the call even though he'd see her in a short time anyway.

"She's…We share the apartment."

He put her on speakers, as he splattered water in his face though there was little he could do, to hide the dark circles under his eyes.

"You should put your name on the bell, then?" he replied, drying his hands and face.

"My name will just attract the paparazzi. I think they don't know where I live, yet. Want to keep it that way as long as possible."

Talking about the name at the front door was just supposed to be mindless banter. Instead, he sobered up, as she mentioned the trouble, she was having because of him.

"They found out my last address pretty soon, and they know where I work…but…," he couldn't see it, but he knew she was shrugging. "Anyway, we talk later. See you soon." She ended the call.

It wasn't that hard to get past the paparazzi and he didn't really care that they got a few pictures of him walking to his car.

At this late hour, there was hardly any traffic, so he made it to Fuyumi in just over thirty minutes.

* * *

So, it's really about time to throw Fuyumi back into the story. I've missed her. Actually I wanted to ideally wait a little longer for the two to meet again, but now that Touya's identity is public, there was no excuse to push it off anymore. Fuyumi back in the story also means there will be a bunch of Fuyumi chapters for 'I'm Watching!' coming up soon. This is a bit complicated, because although I did not want to spoil any reveals for the main story in I'm Watching! I fear that now I have to. So, there will be some Fuyumi chapter's coming soon both in this story and in I'm Watching! and it will probably be the first time, that through I'm Watching you will find out about something that Enji doesn't know yet. But well, you'll see.

Anyway, something else. So far the feedback regarding my usage and focus on OC's was mostly positive. So, as nobody seemed to have any issues with it, I focused a bit more on them as strictly necessary. I won't cut it down completely, but recently I had the first comments of people who did not like that and didn't much care about it. So I just wanted to get some feedback if you'd like me to cut shorr on the OC's and focus more on CC's. I also had a comment about trying to put more different CC's in like Deku, and just wanted to point this out: Deku is not going to be a major if at all a part of this story.


	48. The Elephant in the Room

IT'S FUYUMI! Finally the long-awaited Fuyumi chapter is out. With this she will officially return into the story, even though there are still a lot of issues to resolve. I really hope you like it. I took a while to write it, so I hope the time was well-spent. Also watch out for some I'm Watching! Chapters coming up soon.

* * *

 **The Elephant in the Room**

She had cut her hair. It wasn't that long ago he had last seen her. This whole mess had only started about two months ago, when Natsuo had faked his kidnapping. He had seen Fuyumi just two weeks ago during his statement to the press. Of course, back then he only saw her for a short period of time and they hardly even spoke, but still. He felt like he hadn't seen her in years. In the past, there had been days when he hardly bothered coming home and if he came home at all, he spent what little time he had training Shoto. Sometimes he hadn't seen Fuyumi – or Natsuo for that matter – for weeks without even realizing it. Now, just two months away from his daughter felt like an eternity.

Maybe the fact that she looked so different also did its part to make Enji feel like he had missed years instead of months. Instead of her white hair with red strands resting down on her shoulders, now it was cropped short just around her chin. It made her look younger and more daring.

He realized it also took some of her resemblance to Rei away. In fact, the way her hair fanned and spiked around her jaw reminded Enji of his brother.

"I'm so glad you came," Fuyumi said, ushering him inside while Enji was still staring at her, trying to consolidate this new image with the girl he remembered.

"Uh, of-of course I came," he stammered, pulling himself out of his thoughts. What impression would that leave on her after they hadn't seen each other for so long.

Not that long, he thought annoyed, it's just you who feels that way!

He stood awkwardly in the small corridor. He could hardly turn around without bumping against the wall, so he just stood helpless like a piece of furniture in the way. "Thanks," he started hesitating again, "uh… for inviting me over."

Fuyumi looked at him with a frown, then she pointed at a door behind him. "The living room is over there."

"Uh huh," Enji responded with an audible nod staring at her. He took a second to realize she meant for him to go there. Embarrassed, he scratched his head before turning around almost running to the open room. This small corridor made him feel almost claustrophobic. It was just too tight for him and Fuyumi and all the issues between them.

The living room was a lot bigger, but it still didn't compare to its counterpart in the Todoroki house. While Enji's home was decidedly Japanese by architecture and interior design, this apartment was a mix of western and eastern influences. A wild assortment of different styles and colors. There was a parquet floor and a hardwood bookshelf, a white paravent serving as a room partition. The weirdest thing was the chaos of different armchairs, a couch and a futon that made the sitting area in front of an old TV. It looked like a student apartment, not like something he had expected from his daughter.

Again, he obviously wasted too much time staring at things, because Fuyumi came up behind him pushing him a little to move on. "You can sit there, if you want." She waved at the couch absentmindedly, glancing towards the kitchen door. When Enji looked over there, he saw her fumble the tips of her hair.

"Do you want tea?"

Enji nodded quietly, not knowing what to think of her behavior.

As if she had just waited for it, she immediately dashed away to the kitchen. He could hear some clattering from where she worked. In the meantime, Enji's eyes found the door out to the balcony. While he waited, he stood back up walking over to the balcony door. Somebody had put a huge aloe vera next to a potted palm tree, a thuja and fern. Lastly, there was a single sunflower trying to get some light among all the shadows. The fern especially had more than overgrown the dimensions of the balcony and made it impossible to sit on the balcony without also sitting on at least one of its branches. It really needed some work.

"Those are Azumi's." Enji almost jumped when Fuyumi's voice came from behind. She walked up to him to glance at the balcony. "I told her if she doesn't do something, the sunflower will just die because there's too little light, but…" she shrugged. "I just moved in two weeks ago, so I didn't have time to do anything about it, yet."

Enji nodded, turning around to face her. She balanced a round tray with two cups and a steaming teapot on her hands. He also saw a small plate with his favorite dessert.

"I made tea," she mumbled as if she was embarrassed about it. She looked around towards the sitting area and the coffee table there. "We should sit," she beckoned him over again.

Enji followed her, still mildly annoyed at the weird mix of different colors and styles in the room. He couldn't deny that the furniture was comfortable though, he thought as he sunk into the cushion of one of the two armchairs. Fuyumi set down her tray, then offered him one of the already filled cups with green tea.

After giving him his tea, she stood a bit awkwardly before sitting down on the couch, taking her own cup in hand. Enji watched her as she sipped quietly, her brows furrowing just slightly, then she sipped again this time keeping her expression better in check. For a second her eyes flitted over the edge of her cup looking up at him. Caught staring, Enji turned to his own tea, taking a big gulp that emptied half the cup at once and burned comfortably in his throat. It was thick and of a bright green color. A bit more bitter than usual. So, she still remembered how he liked his tea.

"Do you like some kuzumochi?" she asked, pointing at the small plate.

"Thanks," he said, immediately taking one of the square shaped sweets. He wanted to talk to her, but for now it seemed easier to just occupy his mouth with eating and drinking. There was honey on the pieces, and he licked his fingers still chewing on his first bite.

"It's good," he complimented.

Fuyumi often made them, and he always enjoyed them. He missed it a little.

"I didn't make it," she answered smiling. "But I will tell Azumi that you liked her cooking."

Enji was a bit put-off by her reply. He didn't like the idea of some stranger having a part in their reunion. Then he shrugged that uncomfortable feeling off. He was being childish. It tasted fine, so what if Fuyumi hadn't made it herself?

"So, Azumi is your housemate?" he continued the conversation, thinking this was probably a safe subject. There was an elephant in the room sitting between them, but Enji wasn't quite ready to start with the serious conversation, yet.

He realized Fuyumi was evading his gaze, so he assumed she thought the same. "Uh-huh," she said, taking a kuzumochi as well.

"A colleague?" Enji asked, not remembering where else Fuyumi might have met this other woman. He didn't really remember Fuyumi having other hobbies or social events besides her job or family.

"No," Fuyumi answered briefly. Then she hesitated and shrugged. "I only met her a short while ago. She's a friend."

Enji nodded. He had started asking about the other woman to avoid the real issue, he didn't really care for her. So, he couldn't come up with a follow-up question.

"You actually met her, I think," Fuyumi added after a while, still avoiding his eyes. "You know when you addressed the press. She was…"

"Ah, yeah," Enji mumbled when he remembered the tall woman keeping him away from Fuyumi. "I remember." There was some dark anger in his voice that he tried to suppress. Azumi had probably just been a good friend to his daughter, but he couldn't help the bitter feelings when he remembered that time. Fuyumi had basically fled from him and whatever chance he might have had to talk to her, this other girl had ruined.

Fuyumi didn't say anything else after that. She sat on her couch with her hands clasping the teacup and her shoulders hunched as if she wanted to vanish in the cushions. Enji watched her for a while, waiting for her to start talking. She had invited him over, so he expected her to broach the subject. Never mind that he was horrible at small talk and even worse at starting the real talk. But after a while of watching her, he sighed. She looked like she was very uncomfortable where she sat, as if she just wanted to disappear. This was her apartment and she looked like she would rather be anywhere else. It seemed like every second that passed in silence made her a little more nervous, her eyes flitting around ever faster.

He hated it. Fuyumi was not supposed to be like this. Her behavior almost reminded him of Rei when he saw her for the first time in ten years in her hospital room. Fuyumi was always quiet and not as confrontational as her brothers, but this level of meekness was maddening. It wasn't what he remembered her to be like. What happened in the last month? He still remembered her powerful rage when she had stormed out of the hospital weeks ago.

His sigh quickly turned into a yawn.

"You look tired," she spoke again, finally looking at him.

"I am," he answered offhandedly. He hadn't really slept in days. Since the fight against Dabi… No, since the divorce discussions, really, he had only slept fitfully — if at all. But he wasn't here to talk about his sleep schedule. "Fuyumi," he started directly, "why am I here?"

"Huh?" The sound she made was so meek, high-pitched but barely audible, it made him almost flinch bodily. Was she afraid of him? That couldn't be right… She had supported him all throughout that difficult time when All Might had retired. She wouldn't have done that, wouldn't have been able to do that the way she did, if she were afraid, he was sure.

"I thought…," Enji tried to explain, not really knowing what to say. "You called me to come over, so I thought maybe you had watched the news or something. So, you know, I didn't lie." That was what he had hoped that she finally saw reason. If she accepted the truth, maybe she could leave behind her anger towards him and move back in. He hoped she would move back in. The house was so empty without her. He increasingly hated being there just by himself.

She didn't answer at first, just looked at him, so he continued.

"About Touya… You know, right?" He was almost afraid of her answer, because this was his chance, and if she said no, that was it. How else was he to ever convince her, if she couldn't even believe it if the truth was right in front of her, looped endlessly on just about every news channel in the country?

"Yes," she finally said. "Yes, I know." She blinked, her eyes drifted away, then they fixed back on Enji's face. "I wanted… I mean, I called you because…" she swallowed. Her eyes were so focused on him, he didn't dare look away. "I'm sorry."

And then suddenly, she broke down. Tears spilt out of her eyes, rolled over her cheeks and before he knew what had happened, she turned into a sobbing mess on the couch furiously trying to halt the flow of her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.

"G-Gods I…," she sobbed, "I'm sorry, th-this is p-pathetic. I shou-shouldn't…" she tried to apologize for her outbreak. Enji just stared at her. "I'm so sorry I di-didn't believe you. I should've known-own you would-wouldn't…"

Enji was completely overwhelmed with the situation. What was he supposed to do? How should he handle that? He didn't remember the last time Fuyumi had cried. Awkwardly he tried reaching out to her, stretching his hand over the table patting her shoulder. Of course, it didn't help.

"Excuse me," she said almost as soon as he touched her, jumping up from her coach and dashing away to what Enji assumed was the bathroom.

Uncomfortably, Enji remained sitting where he was, watching the closed bathroom door. Should he just go, he wondered. Leave her alone until she had calmed down a bit, and then maybe they could try talking again? It wasn't like this couldn't wait. Now, that he knew, she believed him at least this visit was already more than worth it and surely, they could talk about the rest some other time. Maybe when he himself was more rested as well.

When she didn't come out after two minutes, he stood up to knock at the door. "Hey," he started cautiously, "do you want me to leave? We could talk tomorrow or some other time."

"No," her voice came muffled from the other side of the door. He could hear sounds of splashing water. "I'll be right back. Just give me a minute."

Still unsure if leaving wouldn't be the better option, he decided to stay and sit back down. It was a bit over two minutes – he kept glancing at a watch on the bookshelf to confirm the time – when she emerged from the bathroom again.

"Sorry," she said again, sounding embarrassed when she sat back down.

"You don't have to apologize," he said, immediately feeling useless. He hadn't been able to do anything when she had fallen apart in front of him.

"No, it wasn't…it was really pathetic," she insisted. Her eyes were still red-rimmed and her voice was a bit wobbly and hoarse, but she didn't cry anymore.

"No, it wasn't," he retorted.

Fuyumi looked at him for a moment, then she snorted as if he had said something funny. Enji blushed, not knowing what she was insinuating but feeling like she made fun of him. Still, he was almost glad, because it seemed to have alleviated the situation.

"I wanted you to know," she started again after a while, "that I know now. I'm really so sorry, I didn't believe you right away. It's just… Touya." She said it as if just the name explained everything.

He nodded, as if he understood although to him the name now created more questions than it answered. Who even was Touya anymore? Had that boy ever really existed or was it just some distorted memory like a better version of their lives?

"I watched the fight and… Natsuo told Mother. He knew it for the past two years, but he never said anything," she started rambling. Her voice was so frantic she swallowed some letters and slurred others, trying to explain what had happened. "Then mom told me what really happened. I don't know, why…"

Enji had difficulties following her disjointed story. He raised his hands placatingly. "Calm down," he interrupted her.

"I'm just so…I just left you and you di-didn't even do anything wrong. You just tried telling the truth and I was too stupid to—"

"Calm down, Fuyumi!" he repeated more forcefully. The way her voice wobble again he feared she would start crying again if he didn't stop her. Her mouth snapped shut, maybe shocked at her father's change in tone.

"Yeah…," she mumbled, sniffing slightly, "yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. I should shut up and…"

"Stop apologizing already," he demanded. He realized he should maybe let her speak, but he felt unnerved, so thoroughly out of his depth. Driving here, he could hardly wait to see her again, but now he was overwhelmed. If she started crying again, he wouldn't know what to do. Never mind if she apologized just one more time, he would lose his mind. This wasn't right. He wanted them to just go back to the way before, when they had found a cautious but comfortable peace between them, not this mess. Repeatedly, he found himself glancing at the door.

"Right, I'm sorry!" she said automatically, her eyes widening when she realized she had apologized again.

Tired and frustrated Enji rubbed his forehead. "Fuyumi," he started his voice tired and slow, not really knowing what he wanted to say. Should he tell her that it was alright? Was it? Or that it wasn't that bad, that he hadn't minded, that it wasn't her fault? There was nothing he could tell her, he realized. Nothing that wouldn't feel like a lie. Knowing she thought he had lied, her cutting him out of her life, had deeply hurt him even if he knew why she had done it. Even if he knew he didn't really deserve the second and third chances she had given him, it had still hurt to lose her. He knew he couldn't blame her but… maybe he still did.

"It's…," he continued again, "it will be okay." He finally finished the sentence cringing almost immediately. It will be okay? Really? How? Touya had become a murdering supervillain. How would this ever be alright again?

But if ever there had been a person truly believing in him, truly believing that he could turn it around and atone for what he had done, it had to be Fuyumi. He realized that when she didn't object, didn't laugh or snort at him the way Natsuo or Touya surely would. She didn't even raise a questioning eyebrow or shake her head sadly the way he expected Rei or Shoto to react. Fuyumi simply nodded, as if she truly trusted him to make things right.

For a second, he couldn't breathe, overwhelmed by the realization that she still, after everything, trusted and believed in him. He didn't even really believe it himself, that he would ever be able to make up for what he had done.

"Will you move back in?" he asked, changing the subject because he felt emotions clogging his throat in a way that made his speech pathetically thick.

Fuyumi didn't answer immediately. She looked around the room as if searching for something. "I…" she started. Her hands grasped the half-empty teacup again. "I don't… I mean…"

"It's just me now," he explained sadly, when she didn't form a single coherent sentence. "It's awfully quiet." He hated it. If the big premises didn't also somewhat protect him from the paparazzi, he might have already sold the house to move into a smaller apartment.

"If you want me to…" she finally answered, but there was something in her tone, in the way her shoulders hunched and her eyes shifted away from him, that made him wonder. But again, he didn't know what caused her behavior.

"I'd like that," Enji said nodding. In his head he already went through his own schedule when he could fit Fuyumi moving back in. He'd want to be there then. Before until recently they had just occupied the same house without really doing much together, but he'd like to change that. Maybe they could make a nice dinner on the night she moved back in. Currently he had a lot of stress at work, but he'd have to squeeze it in somewhere.

She nodded quietly. Still, her eyes were avoiding him and now even her fingers started fumbling again. She opened her mouth but closed it again without saying anything.

What was wrong? It was maddening that she wouldn't tell him.

"Fu—" he started, when suddenly his phone rang. "Shit!" He cursed angrily. He wanted to ignore the call, but when the ringing continued and even Fuyumi was looking expectantly at his pants' pocket where the annoying sound came from, he angrily pulled the phone out glaring at the name on-screen. "God damnit!" he cursed. He wanted to shut the phone off and ignore the call, but halted when he saw the name on screen. It was the agency. Of course it was. They wouldn't call unless he was needed.

He hesitated, uncertain, with his finger hovering above the accept and ignore button for so long, Fuyumi spoke up. "It's okay, you should take that. What if something happened?" He still hesitated. "Really, I don't mind," she added in a quiet voice.

Cursing again he took the phone call. "What!?" He demanded angrily.

"Sorry for the disturbance, but it's the JfN!" He didn't immediately recognize the voice. "They are at your house."

"What?" He repeated disbelievingly.

"They put your house on fire. We got the call from Backdraft. Brazen is already on the way."

Enji jumped up angrily. They had put his house on fire! How dare they? Part of him thought sarcastically that if they at least managed to burn it down completely, he finally had a good excuse to move out. Then he remembered Fuyumi sitting in front of him. Her eyebrows were furrowed in worry. Right, she was about to move in again. What shitty timing!

"I'm…" he stopped short looking at Fuyumi.

"Go," she said. "It seems important."

"Someone attacked the house," he explained to her, even if she didn't technically need to know.

She blanched a little. "Is it the same people who attacked Yasui?" She called Avalanche by his birth name.

He nodded. "Seems like it."

"You should really go, don't worry about me." If he didn't know any better, he'd think she sounded almost relieved. Something was wrong. He couldn't shake that feeling, but he had no time to deal with it now.

"Sorry," he apologized hastily, then he dashed towards the door.

* * *

Whew! I already mentioned above that this will not solve all the issues. Enji is still socially awkward and doesn't quite understand Fuyumi's problems - though she also doesn't make it easy for him. So there is still a lot of stuff that needs to be resolved between them. Maybe you already know or have an assumption of what Fuyumi's problems are. I'd be interested to read that in the comments.

I've really put off Fuyumi's reunion with her father for a long time. I even wanted to wait a little longer, but at this point with Dabi's identity now being public knowledge, there was really no reason for pushing it off even longer. So now, I will finally get into Fuyumi's storyline. To start it off, there are three Fuyumi PoV chapters for 'I'm Watching!' currently in the process of being beta-read. So lookout for the first of those dropping sometime this week. Don't know yet, if I will space them out one chapter a week or all one after the other, but just prepare for more Fuyumi content!

It's already more than a year ago that I decided to have Fuyumi deal with some issues that we can now finally get into. As she was at the start of the story the Todorki-child mostly at peace with her father, giving her an actual story and not just be there for emotional support was something I wanted to do, but which was also difficult. While I am not and don't proclaim to be an expert on domestic abuse (in fact I don't even do research for this story, or hardly any, so pardon any misrepresentation of this or any other subject^^) when I first started writing this I had a pretty clear idea what the other children had to deal with in regards to 'resolving their issues with their father' - be that by accepting his change or by cutting him loose'. Most of it was pretty much set from the Manga already:

Like Shoto having to deal with the physical abuse he had to endure himself and witness in regards to his mother, hating Endeavor but also slowly coming to terms with the idea that his father might be changing. Rei being in the hospital and still frightened of him - so it seemed the natural way for her to go would be to try and gain her independence and free himself of her husband (even still in a time when Enji isn'T actively oppressing her anymore because the trauma is too much to just continue the way they did). Or like Natsuo hating his father but also as a child craving his father's attention and respect and now having to consolidate those two parts of him - one who wants nothing to do with his dad and the young Natsuo still in him who just wants to hear his father say 'I love you'. And then of course there's Dabi's hatred...

With all four of them it was pretty clear-cut to me, what I wanted to do with these characters. Fuyumi was different, because from the Manga, while it's pretty clear what she wants, she seems to be a fairly functional adult without any outward issues. (Not saying that she doesn't have any trauma to deal with herself, just that it is not obvious how it manifests in her, now, that she's an adult.) So I basically had to make this one up, because I didn't want to reduce her just to emotional support for Enji - even more so since isolating Enji was the most important thing in this story to achieve what I wanted to do. (Funnily enough, we're now at a point in the Manga were Enji is also isolated from his family, though in the Manga he did that by choice while I did not give him that choice.)

Anyway I think I'm just rambling now, but I wanted to explain this now, because Fuyumi's entire character arc is one I'm most insecure about because I took a lot of liberties with her character here and while it might not be obvious what I'm talking about now, it might be later so... I really hope'll like it when it happens. I know there were quite a few a bit disappointed that Fuyumi took a backseat for so long, but I hope it will be worth it, now that we get into her side of the story.


	49. Ashes

Didn't really have a good idea for a title. So tell me if you find something fitting :D

* * *

 **Ashes**

When he arrived back home, the firefighters had already stopped the fire from spreading. Brazen and one of Enji's neighbors, as well as some of the journalists that had been camping around the house for the last few days, were talking to the police officers on scene, and the villains were nowhere to be seen.

He asked the first cop he met what had happened, but apparently the police were still piecing it together themselves, so they could only tell him that there was an attack, that one of the journalists had called the police when a group of strangers had entered the premises, and that the firefighters were still working on putting out the blaze.

In the end, it was Brazen who gave him most of the information.

"They fled before I arrived. But we're certain it's that group. Justice for Natsuo." He grimaced. "Backdraft saw them just before they fled, and we have two eye-witnesses." He waved over to the group of journalists. "They called the police when they recognized the Raining Man," Brazen told him. "I think they even got some of it on camera."

Enji nodded looking over to his house. There was orange light glimmering in the dark, but he couldn't actually see the flames. Most of his sight was cut off by a big fire truck. The blue emergency lights both from the fire trucks and the police flashed through the night. He could see some of his neighbors standing at their windows or coming up their driveway to see what was happening. An elderly woman who lived next door for as long as the Todoroki's lived here tried to wave him over to explain what was happening. He just glanced at her, turning back to Brazen as soon as the young hero spoke again.

"It's just their luck you weren't home, or we would have caught them already," Brazen said angrily. His hands fisted at his side. "How dare they?" He glared at the fire trucks, then back at Enji with a raised eyebrow. After he took in Enji's appearance in his civilian clothes, he frowned. "Where have you been anyway? It's the middle of the night and I was sure you needed the rest."

He shrugged. "Nowhere." Enji made a face, when he realized his refusal to answer might be seen as rude, not that he cared much about how his response could be taken. "Family matters," he added.

"Ah…," Brazen didn't push the subject.

"Anyway, it seems they are getting bolder," Enji quickly continued before Brazen's questions might turn too personal. "You're right, if I had been there, it would have been difficult for them to get away. So either they actually got better gaining confidence, or they are running out of patience." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "In any case, that's a problem. It's been barely a week and they went from vandalism to hurting a hero and now arson."

"You mean we should be careful?" Bazen asked, but it really wasn't much of a question. "Not let it escalate further."

"Hm," Enji agreed.

His eyes were itching with how tired he was. "Do you know anything about the damage so far?"

"You were lucky, I think," Brazen answered. "Seems like the fire department can save your house. Lucky thing it's built from fire resistant material." Enji grunted. "But you should find a different place to spend the night. They will take the rest of the week to clean up here and who knows how long the police will want to investigate the scene."

"I'll sleep at the agency," Enji replied without hesitation. He already turned around towards his car.

"Want me to drive you there?" Brazen hurried after him. "You don't look like you should still be driving."

Enji simply glared at him before he entered his car, slamming the door shut in front of Brazen.

The next morning, he got contacted by a police officer to tell him the course of the investigation, before he left to see the damage for himself.

The villains broke through a window of the dojo, the officer had explained. Now that he stood in the room, it was impossible to say which window, as all of them were smashed. Apparently, they had tried to set fire to the dojo and when that had failed, they had thrashed the room and laid fire to the corridor.

Enji gazed at his broken training equipment and the damaged tatami mats and walls. They had punched a hole in one of the walls. There was some damage from the fire, but the dojo and the training rooms Enji – and in the past his children – used were coated in a fire-resistant varnish. It was very expensive but Enji knew it was worth its money. It had made it all but impossible for a regular person without a fire quirk to set it on fire. The rest of the house was not covered in the same high-quality varnish, but a much cheaper version that normally did its job.

It hadn't been enough to stop the fire from spreading through the corridor to other parts of the estate. Due to the fire-resistant varnish in the interior it had spread much faster along the outside than the inside of the house. It had quickly reached the main house where it had damaged a few rooms, most importantly Enji's office and Natsuo's and Touya's old rooms. Mostly though it had spread along the outside, destroying the wooden veneer and part of the roof reaching the guest house. The fire fighters had done their best to contain the destruction and the varnish had significantly slowed the spread but all in all the only undamaged part, Enji thought, was the pavilion.

With his unprofessional eye, he assumed it was repairable, but it would cost quite a bit. Police investigators were still swarming the place early in the morning. He was asked for his password for the security camera footage, but he didn't believe that there was anything on there. He already knew that the JfN had somebody who was able to bypass his security system. He still gave the police access to the footage just in case. The more promising footage, however, he assumed came from the journalists outside.

Of course, they had made sure that Endeavor's name once again plastered the headlines, but at least the police finally had clear images and footage of the JfN.

He stood in the door to Touya's old room. Most of the boy's old toys that they had preserved for years, were destroyed, but the furniture made of fire-resistant material was still intact. It was covered by a dark layer of soot. Enji thought he would be more distraught to see the broken toys. But of course, Touya was not dead and Dabi didn't seem to have any use for these old memorabilia anyway. So, who cared if the futon mattress and the computer Enji had ruined the last time he had been in this room, when he had ripped out the keyboard with a bit too much force, were destroyed? The hole in the wall where he had smashed the keyboard through all the way to Fuyumi's room, was now scorched black, and Enji wondered if the investigators would even piece together that the hole had not been a consequence of the fire.

Fuyumi's room was oddly pristine. There was the hole in the wall. From this perspective from her room, it wasn't burned black. Only the edge was a little scorched. That aside, the room was as empty and spotless as it had been since Fuyumi had left, although it stank a little of burned rubber.

He smiled somewhat wistfully when he saw it. Just the day before, he had offered Fuyumi to move back in and apparently life had decided to put a spoke in their wheel. He had already given up on anybody moving back into the house in the coming month or two until the repairs were at least far enough along that the main house with the living quarters was livable again. In fact, he would probably move out himself at least for the time of the renovations. Now that he stood in Fuyumi's room, it struck him as odd how livable it still was.

Of course, he would not ask his daughter to move in a half-ruined building. But here in this room, the destruction seemed far away and unrealistic. As if the destruction outside was just imaginary and the building indeed as pristine as Fuyumi's room.

Natsuo's room was the worst. Besides his own office. Since he didn't have a fire quirk, they had not bothered buying him the most expensive fire-resistant furniture as they had with Touya and Shoto's rooms. The destruction of the roof was worst here too, and a burning bit of debris had apparently fallen down on Natsuo's old bed, setting the bedding, then the tatami mats and the desk and his wallpapers of different bands and sports teams on fire. The Origami figures on his book shelves and desk were now gone, and of the only thing that remained of the soccer ball in the corner was a pile of burned scorched leather and burned rubber. Maybe that was the thing that stank so much you could even smell it in Fuyumi's room.

Enji let his eyes roam over the destruction. Something caught his eye and he bent low to dig the old soccer cup out of the ashes on the ground. With his hands, he flicked away the ash and soot covering the metal cup. The wooden stand was damaged, as was the cup itself. It was just a cheap plastic cup with a gold metallic paint job. The heat of the fire had melted, deformed and discoloured the cup but it was still recognizable. Amazingly, the little badge saying 'Musutafu Municipal Championship – 1st Place,' was still intact. There was a date that suggested the Championship had been 10 years ago when Natsuo was nine years old. Enji didn't remember.

He put the cup back on the most intact shelf in the room. He would have to call Natsuo to come and check if the fire had destroyed any valuables for insurance sake. Thankfully, Enji had made sure the insurance covered fire damage. Although, when he had set it up, neither he nor the insurer had thought about an arson attack. Due to his and his family's quirks, he even had to pay extra for that coverage, as his household was classified high risk for fire hazard. Now, at least all that insurance money would come to use.

His own office looked little better than Natsuo's room. The furniture was still intact, but what papers he took home with him were now gone.

He called Irina, that she would not need to come and clean the house next week, then he packed a bag of his clothes and left for the agency.

In the upper stories of the Endeavor Hero Agency, there were small apartments that were normally either used by his sidekicks and interns especially when they lived far away or during night shift, or guests of the agency and fellow heroes who only stayed for the night. The apartment he chose was one of the bigger ones, but it didn't compare at all to the luxury of his house. Still, as he suddenly saw his living space reduced from the sprawling Todoroki abode to roughly 40 sqm, he had a surprising sensation of relief. He didn't linger long though, leaving for the office to contact the insurance company and message Natsuo.

Natsuo didn't answer, but right around noon, while Enji was reading Backdrafts report on the incident, his phone pinged and he received a message from Fuyumi.

 _Dad, what happened? You didn't call back yesterday and now the news says there was an arson attack! Are you fine?_

He felt oddly happy reading her concerned message after so many days of silence.

 _I'm fine_ he wrote back. _When I arrived, they were already done. But I will live in the agency for a few weeks at least_.

 _Good._ _I'm glad_ , she responded. Then in a second message: _I have to go back to class. Cya._

Enji stared at the waving emoji she had sent, shaking his head. 'Cya'? He sent her a single question mark, then he sent a second message.

 _Thanks for inviting me yesterday. We should repeat that even if you can't move back in quite yet._

She didn't respond anymore but that was no surprise, as she was probably already on her way back to class. Speaking of which, he should also do his work.

Considering that just yesterday a group of villains had laid fire to his house, his patrol today was rather uneventful. It was only when he came back to his office that he realized that Natsuo had left him a message that he would go to the house on Wednesday.

Before Enji went to bed, he went through what little information Silent Tracker had sent him from Fukuoka. Nothing groundbreaking as of yet, but also nothing that would disprove his suspicion against Hawks.

He went to bed early and found it was oddly convenient to just sleep where he worked.

Monday started uneventfully, and he went out to patrol the streets with Brazen. When he came back to the agency, he was surprised to hear that Natsuo had called again. That was odd, as he only wanted to inspect the damage in the house two days later. Natsuo normally didn't go out of his way to contact his father. Switching his mobile phone on he realized his son had also called him on this number, but he had missed the call during patrol.

"I tried to call you," Inari said, when he arrived back in his office. "Your son called. Detectives Sato and Ayasegawa turned up at his apartment to speak to him about the kidnapping."

"Shit," Enji cursed, already scrolling down through his contacts to his son's number.

"Ide is with him," Inari informed him. "I asked to postpone until you were back, but they were adamant about talking to him now. Said they had grounds to arrest him, so I decided…" He sounded unsure if he had done the right thing. Apparently, Inari and Natsuo had caved when the detectives had threatened an arrest. At least Ide had sent one of the agency lawyers working under Nakamura to take care of the case.

"Which police station did they take him to?" Enji asked, already turning around to leave again, not even caring that he was still in costume. "And tell Matsuura I'll be down with him in a minute."

"Musutafu Aldera," Inari yelled after him already with the receiver in hand to call Enji's driver.

When Enji stepped out of the elevator and hurried down the underground parking garage to where Matsuura was already waiting, his driver had a half-eaten sandwich in his hand.

"Inari called me away from my dinner," he complained but didn't lose any time getting into the car and turning the engine on. "What's going on, where to?" He looked a little confused, maybe because Enji in his hurry had jumped into the passenger seat instead of the back row where he normally sat so he could get some work done on the way.

Enji gave him the address of the police station. He caught a skeptical glance by Matsuura, a slender eyebrow quirking curiously. The car rolled slowly up the driveway and out on the street. Enji's legs twitched impatiently. "Who was arrested?" As soon as they were out on the street he sped up towards northwest, making Enji calm down a little.

"Nobody," he snapped tersely. Natsuo didn't get arrested. Just some bullshit pretense to bring him in for questioning before Enji could stop them. They would regret that. He just hoped Ide had made sure the boy kept his mouth shut, but he was confident in her skill as a lawyer.


	50. An Awkward Ride

Sorry for the delay. I only managed to finish writing this Saturday evening. Thanks so much to my beta Kristi for correcting it in such a short time!

Btw. This is chapter number 50! Wuhuuu!  
Holy moly this story got long!

I hope you like it!

* * *

 **An Awkward Ride**

The young officer at the front reception stared at him with wide eyes as if he had seen a ghost when Enji stormed into the building. Enji hadn't bothered to change out of costume, so immediately all eyes were on him. He didn't care much about what they surely thought. So, what if he rattled their nerves a little as they feared there might be a catastrophe somewhere that they missed? They shouldn't have started questioning his son in his absence! As a consequence, giving them a little fright seemed only fair.

The young officer must be a trainee, Enji thought, increasingly frustrated when the man stammered something that was either a welcome or a concerned demand for information.

Enji put his hands on the reception desk leaning over, asserting his presence even if that made the officer back away and pale even more. Hardly a single coherent word came out of him now.

"Where is my son?" Enji asked, not giving the other time to finish his mess of a question.

"Your…" The officer's voice was frantic, almost panicked and confused. His eyes drifted to his desk as if looking for the information, then he apparently decided that he couldn't let the furious hero out of sight, so his eyes snapped back at Enji. He didn't answer, just stared with his mouth working silently looking remarkably akin to a fish.

"My son," Enji repeated impatiently leaning forward even further over the reception so he could see whatever information the officer had tried to look at earlier. It was a simple sheet of paper with some graphs on it that Enji couldn't quite understand – either because it was upside down or because it had nothing to do with anything concerning Enji or Natsuo. Somebody had scribbled messy Kanji over the paper in such a sloppy handwriting it was impossible to decipher.

"Natsuo Todoroki," Enji added the name when the officer was still not very forthcoming with information. "He was brought here for an interrogation without notifying me. He's nineteen." He was furious. Of course, nineteen was not fourteen. Natsuo was essentially an adult, but still legally he was still a minor, and he was not some dangerous villain that it was imperative to take him into custody right away.

"I…let me…I'll…a-a moment please," the young officer finally stuttered out a halfway understandable response, turning to his computer immediately. The way his shoulders sacked a little as he was relieved to not stare right into Enji's furious eyes and flaming beard anymore.

"Hurry," Enji demanded.

Enji watched as the officer's knees bobbed up and down nervously. He was about to snap at him to stop, when a well-known person came down from the corridor.

Detective Sato hadn't changed one bit since the last time he had visited the Endeavor Agency to inform Enji of the ongoing investigation turning against his son. Enji turned toward him not sure if he should scream at the man or burn him with a well-tempered blast of fire.

"I was informed you had arrived," Sato said before Enji could make up his mind.

"How dare you talk to Natsuo without his parents' consent!" Enji glared furiously. "He's nineteen."

"And we're questioning him about a crime regarding villain activity threatening the safety of the nation," Detective Sato answered calmly. "You know different rules apply in such situations."

Enji's flames flickered visibly. "Is he a suspect?" He asked right away.

Sato seemed a bit surprised by the direct question. He hesitated just a split second before he answered, but it was enough for Enji to notice. "He is not in custody," he answered finally.

That wasn't what Enji had asked though. The round-about way of answering could only mean that they indeed saw Natsuo as a potential suspect but didn't have enough evidence to back up their suspicions. It was clear in the way the police had acted that they saw Natsuo as more than just a random witness. Maybe if Natsuo wasn't who he was, they'd have better chances pinning him with just circumstantial evidence, but the son of the number one hero? Even with Enji's bad reputation – maybe even more so, as any judge would have sympathy for Natsuo's situation.

Enji didn't need to say any of that, though. It was clear between them without being spoken out loud.

"Then he is free to go," Enji ultimately stated, pushing past Sato into the corridor. "Where is he?"

"Follow me," Sato relented after a short moment in which Enji purposefully walked up to the first pair of doors, intending to just open all of them, until he found his son.

Ultimately, Sato led him to a plain and ordinary interrogation room. Natsuo and Ide sat on one side of the table, two officers – one of them he recognized as Ayasegawa who had also interrogated Enji himself in the hospital – on the other side. All of them looked up as Enji entered without even knocking.

Enji thought Natsuo sank a little deeper into his chair, when he saw him. But he might just imagine it. The way Natsuo scowled at him didn't seem to suggest that he felt the need shrink away from Enji. Ide smiled and nodded a greeting, while the two cops quickly looked at Sato, asking their colleague what was going on with little more than a few raised eyebrows.

"Come!" Enji demanded, speaking to his son. "Let's go."

Natsuo seemed reluctant at first. He glanced at Ayasegawa, then at Ide and Sato. Only when the latter nodded and confirmed that Natsuo was free to go, did he finally stand up. He moved with the reluctance of somebody walking to a dreaded exam not like somebody who actually wanted to leave. Enji frowned impatiently, while Natsuo grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder with what felt like purposefully slowly and dragged out movement. He even stopped completely at one point looking at Ide, if she was coming, too.

Finally, Natsuo slipped past Enji out of the room. Enji looked after him with a deep frown.

"Next time," he turned back to Sato, "you'll call me first before bringing him here." He knew there was little chance at that. Once they had actual evidence, they'd go right to Natsuo and not ask Enji for permission first, they both knew that. Nevermind, that Enji was about to leave custody over Natsuo with Rei.

Sato thankfully didn't say anything to refute Enji's statement. "You know it's only a matter of time," he said calmly. "Good day, Todoroki-san."

The way he was just dismissed made Enji angry, but for once he had to swallow his pride and follow Natsuo and Ide outside. They didn't talk at all on their way out of the station. Something in the way Natsuo's eyes drifted from the car parked outside down the road let Enji think he wanted to walk rather than share a ride with them, but before Natsuo could even object, Enji demanded: "Get inside."

Natsuo actually humpfed at him, but didn't object as he carelessly threw his bag on the backseat before climbing into the car after it. Ide quietly took the seat on the other side, leaving only the passenger seat for Enji himself.

"Home?" Matsuura asked. He had leaned against the car, smoking, before he flicked the butt on the street slipping into the driver's seat.

Enji was about to answer, when Natsuo interjected in a rude voice. "To my dorm. Do you know where that is?"

Enji glared back over his shoulder, but Natsuo just frowned at him.

"On the Musutafu University Campus, right?" Matsuura answered, not caring much about Natsuo's unfriendly tone.

"Yes, there." The boy simply ignored Enji.

When nobody said anything else, Matsuura gave a little sigh, before he started the engine and drove in the direction of the University. It was very close, Enji knew. They would hardly need five minutes to arrive there.

"How did it go?" he asked after a minute, glancing back at his son. "What did they ask?"

Natsuo didn't answer. The boy frowned out the window without saying anything.

"Did you tell them anything?" When Enji still didn't get a response, not even much of a reaction at all, he turned even further on his seat, stretching backwards so he could grab Natsuo's knee to get his attention. "Natsuo!"

Natsuo jerked his knee back, so Enji's hand slipped off. "Everything's fine," he finally answered. "Ide did most of the talking. Everything was under control." He sounded angry and annoyed.

"Ide?" Enji finally turned to the young lawyer on the seat next to Natsuo. "How did it go? What do you think about it?"

She was about to answer had already opened her mouth, when Natsuo turned abruptly from the window to glare at Enji. "Don't tell him!" He snapped.

Ide hesitated for a moment, then she gave Enji an apologetic smile and closed her mouth shut again. Frustrated Enji's eyebrows furrowed, staring at Natsuo.

"Natsuo…," he started.

"It's got nothing to do with you! There was no need for you to come and wave your authority around. I can take care of myself!" he yelled angrily.

As Natsuo's voice rose, Ide turned in her seat to look out of the window as if to give them some privacy. Enji could see her neck blush a little in embarrassment that she was caught in the middle of this family drama.

"You're still a minor!" Enji responded, raising his voice now as well. "So, no, you can't take care of everything yourself! I'm responsible for you!"

"Well, you're mighty late, if you noticed that just now!" Natsuo's face heated red in anger. He realized only when the words were already out, what he had said. Furious at the slip-up, he glared even harder at his father. "Forget it! I can't wait until this divorce procedure is over!"

Enji gritted his teeth. What was he about to say to that?

"Then I can have you out of my hair forever!"

There was a silence in the car that seemed to spread forever. It seemed to take in every inch of the car until it couldn't even fit into the limited space of the vehicle. Finally, Enji had to break it.

"This is about your future…" he started carefully. "Do you want to ruin it because…"

It was at that moment that Matsuura stopped the car and Natsuo was out of his seat and on the street before Enji could blink, never mind finish the sentence.

"NATSUO!" He bellowed, quickly unbuckling and jumping after his son. "Wait when I'm talking to you!"

He could hear Natsuo laugh almost hysterically. "Yeah, that would be a new one, right!" He stopped suddenly, whirling around. "Don't you get it!?"

Enji stopped just a step away from Natsuo. He was surprised to see that his son was crying. He didn't answer.

"I can't forgive you! I don't have it in me! So stop jumping to my rescue every chance you get. You're just making it more difficult!"

Enji froze. "I…" but for once, he was out of words.

"Why can't you just send Ide and let her do the work. She knows her job. We were doing fine, before you came! No reason for you to play the hero!"

Enji almost stuttered in his attempt to find an answer. "I-I'm sorry," he finally said, not really sure himself, what he was apologizing for.

"Shut up!" Natsuo screamed. "Stop apologizing! You're making it worse!"

Enji wisely stayed quiet this time, but his silence gave Natsuo the opportunity to turn and run, until he reached the door to his dormitory and disappeared out of sight.

What had just happened? Enji stared after him, suddenly afraid for a completely different reason then the cause for his anger at the police earlier. He had feared to see his son in prison or just in front of a court. But… should he stay away from Natsuo completely? What about all the things he still had to tell him?

He stepped back to the car, quietly brooding. The rest of the ride they spent in silence until the dropped Ide at her place. Finally, Matsuura broke the silence when they were alone.

"Well, I guess that was even more awkward than when I drove you and Shoto to Hosu." It was a joke, Enji realized but he still glared at Matsuura, angry that he would joke about this.

"Sorry, you had to witness it," he muttered anyway, self-conscious that it was not proper to have such disputes in public.

"I don't mind," Matsuura shrugged. "Really, your family problems are your own. I don't really care about it." He glanced at Enji next to him before he looked back out on the street. "And it wasn't the most awkward ride yet."

"Yeah?" Enji asked doubtfully.

"No, that had to be when I drove you to your father's funeral."

Enji didn't remember that Matsuura had driven him there, but he could imagine that it must have been awkward.

"That must have been almost ten years ago," Endeavor guessed, surprised that his driver still remembered.

"Eight," Matsuura corrected half-heartedly.

"Eight…" Enji repeated, embarrassing. He felt a need to explain himself, give a reason why he really couldn't be expected to remember his father's death-date off the top of his head. "I hardly knew him."

"Oh, I could tell." Matsuura threw him an amused side glance. "Believe me I get it. Some family member dies and you're next of kin, so you pay the funeral, and you're supposed to look sad. It's awkward."

Enji frowned at the casual almost amused tone. "You've been perceptive," he acknowledged after a short pause.

"Nah, I've just been around for a while. Driving you around for years, I get to see stuff, not that I care. Your family is your business." It was not just his words, he even sounded entirely unbothered.

Another thought occurred to Enji at that moment.

"Did you know about the abuse?" he asked, suspicious. "About Rei or the children?"

Matsuura was about to respond, when he stopped as he apparently detected something in Enji's tone. He looked sideways at the hero in the passenger seat before turning his attention back to the road. "Only suspicions if anything."

"And you didn't say anything?" Enji asked, almost angry although he did not know on whose behalf. "Not to anybody."

Matsuura snorted. "Of course not," he almost laughed. He didn't say anything else.

* * *

I didn't really know how far to take this chapter. Like did I want Endeavor to participate/witness the actual interrogation or just breakt it up the way he did this chapter? But I think this way works. There might be another Natsuo PoV chapter of the interrogation (or at least a chapter somehow adressing this interrogation) later on as soon as I'm done with the Fuyumi parts. But that's still up in the air depeding on when and how much time I can find for that.


	51. The Calm

Hey,

I know I've been talking about potentially missing a chapter update for a while now... but I didn't actually plan for it to happen. While I knew I wouldn't make it last Sunday, I hoped to at least make it by Wednesday... instead everything was a little slower, so now we missed a week. Sorry for that. I hope you like it though.

* * *

 **The Calm**

"Granted, it's a small agency for a top hero, but still. Seven people, plus Hawks; and it's just me shadowing them."

Silent Tracker's voice was muffled over the secure line, as if she had her face in her hands. Endeavor had the webpage of Hawks' agency open on his desktop, looking at what little information was up there. The only name that was revealed on the page was that of an employee who served as a contact for the public. It was not uncommon for members of hero agencies to keep their contacts private, but that didn't make it easier for Endeavor. Over the Hero Network, he could probably ask for the right information, but that would raise suspicions: Why would he suddenly ask about Hawks' agency?

"Only seven members," he focused on that point. "I know it's inconvenient, but that's not too many. And I doubt everyone of them had knowledge about my trip to Kyushu."

"No, you're right, I already excluded three. One was on vacation during the time and the other two wouldn't have been privy to the information. I can't guarantee they didn't overhear it somewhere, but I decided to focus on the other four for now," Silent Tracker relented. She sounded less muffled now, more business-like. Maybe she was still waking up. It was still early in the morning.

"Inari planned my trip with Hawks' secretary," Endeavor said. "Maybe start there?"

On the other end of the line, she snorted amused. "What secretary? He has no secretary. This agency is a mess. There are three sidekicks, an intern from UA, a janitor who's also responsible for the tech in the office, a support item-technician and one person who I'm sure their only job is to get some chicken three times a day."

From the way Silent Tracker sounded she was as disgusted by the notion of eating chicken for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, as was Endeavor. He made a face just thinking about it.

"Sounds about right," he grunted, revolted. "Nothing else so far?"

"I've been monitoring for a week and nothing suspicious yet from any of the employees," she answered. "Of course, I can only ever be at one place at a time, and while I bugged the agency, I feel apprehensive about bugging their private homes as well."

"I understand," Endeavor admitted. "What about Hawks himself?"

"That's the issue…"

He made an impatient sound, when she didn't answer right away.

"He's too fast for me. Too unpredictable. One time he's here, next second he's who knows where," she complained. "I don't have that many different birds in my arsenal that I could turn into which would also be fast enough to at least somewhat keep up."

"Ah," Endeavor grunted in understanding. "That's a problem. I see."

"I'll find a way to get you the information before Christmas. I promised Umeko. She already put the order in for KFC."

Endeavor wasn't really interested in Silent Tracker's romantic Christmas dinner. He'd probably have to work then anyway, pull an extra shift to make up for the vacation Inari had so easily promised to Silent Tracker. He'd rope Inari in so that he could also carry some of the burden he had created.

He wasn't really mad at Inari, more the opposite, but it was a good excuse to make him come to the agency on Christmas and New Year instead of taking a week off to spend with his family. There was work to be done.

"Call when you find anything. If I'm not in the office, Inari should be there."

"Yah…" she dragged the word as if a little annoyed. It was rather childish. "I know. I know."

"Back to work," he ended the call instead of wishing her a good day.

Before the line died, he could hear her semi-motivated "Aye!"

Endeavor looked back at his desktop, scanning Hawks' webpage one last time before shutting the computer off. In a few hours, he hoped Natsuo would mail him the list of damaged items in his room to compile for the insurer. It was not the only thing Endeavor was waiting for this day, though. He should go out on patrol and at least get a few hours of working done in the morning before Nakamura would send him the first draft of the divorce agreement.

Yesterday, he knew Rei had her appointment. Endeavor somewhat suspected it would just be one of Dr. Tanaka's colleagues from the same institute, but he didn't really care which psychologist would do the assessment of her capability to take custody over their children. The important part was that Rei's lawyer Yaoyorozu pushed the whole thing forward faster than he had imagined. He had expected some time to pass before that assessment. He had expected the same now, hadn't really thought that the divorce procedure would get serious before the turn of the year.

He tried not to think about it, as he went out on patrol. He had Brazen with him who was chatting with him amicably. It looked like a quiet day. And in fact, it was…

For the entire week, patrols had been suspiciously quiet. There was a tension in the air, Endeavor could feel it, and he was sure he was not the only one. Like he was being watched and assessed. He knew the JfN were just waiting for the opportunity to strike, but they would never strike at him directly. He had learned that by now. His eyes just briefly found a graffiti on the wall right at his usual patrol route, where he couldn't miss it. It was a crude painting of a house on fire, above it the word 'Hellfire' in bold letters and below the well-known proclamation 'Justice for Natsuo. Justice for Touya!' Somebody had scratched out the "Justice for Touya" part with what looked like red marker, but the scratches were so thin from a distance it was hardly even visible.

Endeavor tried not to focus on the graffiti too much. It was new, he thought, hadn't been here yet when he went on patrol yesterday. It was even still quite close to the agency, just outside of the view of his CCTV cameras. Not that that would have helped much, with how they repeatedly managed to avoid surveillance and security systems. So, they had vandalized his front door, the route he took almost daily for patrol, burnt down his house, attacked his sidekick… But they were too cowardly to face him outright.

What a band of vigilante heroes they were. He was sure they saw themselves as such. They even had a few fans, he knew from his PR department, though most people condemned their actions. Sometimes, Endeavor wondered what side Natsuo belonged to. After their last encounter he didn't quite dare call him just to ask such a banal question.

"It's quiet," Brazen said after a while.

"Hm," Endeavor humphed. He was both on edge and completely bored. His eyes focused on a group of youngsters just down the road, narrowing just a little until he decided they were no threat either. Then… where was the threat he could feel so keenly?

"I don't like it," Brazen stated, equally on edge. He rubbed his forehead as if there was a headache blooming. "When was the last time we didn't have a single incident? It's a bad omen."

Endeavor huffed annoyed. He was not superstitious. He agreed with Brazen that he didn't like the situation, but it wasn't an omen in his mind. Just cowardice. A band of villains, thinking they could step prickle and tease him, try his patience to the limit, but then shrink away when he was about to retaliate. He would show them that it was a mistake underestimating him!

"…teacher Haruka saved me that day. If it weren't for him, I'd be dead or severely injured." Endeavor's feet froze right when he was about halfway through his patrol round. "I know, he was only seven, but so was I. I could never quite move on. Thinking you'd burn to death, you know it changes you."

Endeavor looked into the café where the noise was coming from. It was another one of those TV interviews that he didn't even pay attention to anymore. A young journalist interviewed a woman in Endeavor's age. Endeavor was too far away to read the words running through the news ticker, but he could hear their voices just fine.

"I can't imagine," the journalist said. "Can you tell us what happened after the fire?"

"Of course," the woman replied. She looked vaguely familiar, though Endeavor couldn't quite place her. There was no need to, though, her words explained clear enough, how Endeavor knew her. "As I said, he was seven, so it was ruled as accidental loss of control over his quirk. I think they made him go through some special program where he had to learn to control Hellfire."

"You told us, there were no real repercussions?" the journalist poked.

"No. As I said, we were all just seven, and it was traumatizing, you know? Being stuck in a burning school. They didn't even make him change schools, nothing. So, we had to just live with the idea, that it could happen again any moment. And it doesn't show on his record."

"Well, with having been seven, he was too young for a record," the journalist half joked.

"Of course, but we had to live with the repercussions all our lives, and he… I'm not sure he even remembers. He never even apologized to us."

"Us?" the journalist repeated, "you mean…"

"My classmates and I, of course," she answered immediately, interrupting the journalist.

"They are talking about you again?" Brazen said in that moment, walking up to Endeavor to glance into the café to see the TV. Endeavor was so surprised to be spoken to, he almost jumped. Angrily his ears reddened in embarrassment, but Brazen didn't notice. He walked a little closer into the café with narrowed eyes to read the text below. "You burned down your elementary school?" Brazen asked finally, not judgmental, just curious.

"To be honest, from my experience with him, I really wasn't surprised when I heard the news about his family," the woman said in the same moment as Brazen read the text displayed below her and the host.

"So as somebody who personally knows Endeavor…" The host started, but in that moment, Endeavor finally caught himself. Maybe it was Brazen's question that made him realize he wasn't actually alone, and people were staring at him.

"Bullshit," Endeavor grunted, glaring at a young waiter, before abruptly turning around to march away. "I burned down some furniture in the boy's locker room," he said, annoyed. "Nobody got injured," he added. "She," he threw a scathing glare back at the TV as if he wanted to put it on fire, "wasn't even close to the fire," he explained to Brazen, "but she got caught in a different school fire two years later, that had nothing to do with me. She's mixing her stories up."

It annoyed him especially, that she had suggested he might not even remember the incident, that he hadn't seen any consequences. It had almost ruined his chances to become a hero before he had even decided that that was what he wanted to do with his life. Never mind how his father had always dangled the incident in front of him as long as he lived with him, his wife, and their children. Even years later.

Brazen hurried after him. "I thought you were from Nabu."

"Huh?" Endeavor glanced back at him shortly, before hurrying a little more to get back to the agency sooner. They were already a little late on schedule. "Why?"

"I mean, I knew you were born in Musutafu," Brazen stated, with a tone as if he didn't even realize Endeavor was still listening.

"How do you know that?" Endeavor asked. He didn't give any interviews in talk shows, never did, and he didn't talk a lot about his life.

"It's in your hero registration. I saw that once, don't you remember, when you gave it to me?"

"I remember, telling you to shelve it, not to read it," Endeavor grunted annoyed. "But yeah, I was born here."

"But not in Nabu," Brazen repeated. Endeavor still didn't see the point. With impatiently raised eyebrows he looked down at Brazen. Only now did he see the bright-eyed look on his face. "All the information I could find said you always lived there."

"I moved there when I married," he said because there really wasn't a point in denying this information.

"Must have been a big upgrade from Nasadaa," Brazen joked around. He immediately seemed to feel bad about it. "I'm sorry. I mean, it's not the best part of Musutafu."

Endeavor waved his comment away. "No, it's not." He agreed. After all, Nasadaa was the poorest and most crime-riddled part of Musutafu, even if there were worse areas in the country. "I never liked it there anyway." It wasn't entirely true, but Brazen didn't need to know more.

Endeavor still didn't quite get the excitement though, and apparently Brazen understood that. "Sorry," he mumbled. "You know, I'm a fan."

"I thought that had changed recently," Endeavor retorted, still remembering their last heated conversation.

Brazen seemed to think about it for a moment. "Maybe a little," he admitted finally. "I mean I was disappointed, but…"

"It's okay," Endeavor grunted, not wanting to rehash that argument now.


	52. Before

I was struck by a sudden surfe of Inspiration last week, so unless I decide to rewrite everything tomorrow - which is unlikely - this and the next three or so chapters were all written in a matter of two or three days! Wow! That also puts me in the comfortable position that I don't need to finish each new chapter last Minute. It's a part of the story I really was looking forward to in a while. sort of the accumulation and finale of this current arc in the story. I hope you like it, tell me what you think!

 **Before**

"How does this go so fast?" Enji asked, rubbing his temples where a light headache started to bloom. His eyes scanned over the words, but he was on page four and it was late. He could hardly concentrate anymore.

"Exceptional circumstances," Nakamura replied from where he sat on the other side of the desk. His hands calmly rested on the table. Watching Enji read the divorce agreement was obviously boring him, because he had started playing with the pen in his hand. The regular clicking was a little distracting for Enji.

Enji threw an annoyed glance at the lawyer's hands.

"Uh… sorry," Nakamura muttered.

The hero just raised an eyebrow, putting the document back on the desk without having read it completely. "Exceptional circumstances?" He made a face at how mild that sounded. "You mean the abuse?"

Nakamura shifted almost imperceptibly on his chair. "Your wife's lawyer deems this a matter of urgency," he explained. "Her doctors too, and I'm inclined to agree," he added almost as an afterthought.

Instead of asking again, Enji's eyebrows just rose a little higher in a silent invitation to continue.

"Because of your wife's health," Nakamura explained. "It's expected that the divorce will have a positive effect on her healing," he shrugged somewhat sadly, "or rather, that a prolonged and dragged out divorce procedure would have a negative effect. Rei made considerable strides in her recovery, recently."

Enji's brows furrowed in thought. "And you assume she might relapse if this drags on into the new year." It was more a statement than question.

Nakamura shrugged again. "That's Yaoyorozu's fear at least, and it seems reasonable. For that matter, it would be best if we could submit the signed divorce papers to the City Hall early next week."

"And that's it?" Enji asked doubtfully.

"With the abuse being a public scandal by this time, it may be that the family court decides to review the papers, but I doubt they will prolong the procedure from their side either. So, yes," he nodded slightly, "that's it."

Enji nodded looking back to the document where he had stopped reading. So far none of the terms were unexpected. Most of these things he had already more or less verbally agreed to in his conversation with Rei herself. It had just been a matter of deciding on the amounts of alimony he was supposed to pay. "What about the house?" he asked, remembering the fire.

"The house," Nakamura repeated looking at his copy of the document and flipping some pages, before circling a paragraph of the agreement with the pen and turning the page so Enji could read it. "The fire was unexpected," he admitted. "Your wife is due 50% of the total value of ground and house as well as all assets inside that currently belong to both of you – excluding only your dojo. The fire destroyed the outer front as well as big junks of the roof, significantly reducing the overall value. That said, most of that is covered by the insurance. We decided you should not have to deal with the repairs together. You offered to buy her half of the house, so that's what we will go for." Nakamura looked up at him. "Both your insurance and the expert we consulted expect the damage to be in its entirety repairable, so Rei will sell both her share of the property and her claim against the insurance company to you. You might have some added administrative expenses, but overall, that seemed like the cheapest solution." Maybe Nakamura detected a slight frown on Enji's face, because he quickly added. "You stated you wanted to repair the damage, that's why I agreed to this. Rei has no interest in it."

"No, it's okay," he sighed unhappily. This would get expensive. The house was one of the most valuable family homes in the entire city. He had bought it after their marriage to have a family home, and now it was damaged from the fire and nobody lived there anymore, most of his family seemed to actively resent it – even he did, if he were honest – and still, he felt attached to it.

"And the…," he hesitated, "evaluation?"

"This morning. I was told it went well. I have a verbal assurance that Rei would be a magnificent mother. Especially since – and I quote – 'she has a solid support system to fall back on and after talking to both sons in question it seems there is no concern about her ability to take full custody.' I expect a copy of the written assessment by Friday."

Enji smiled sadly. He glanced back at the document, not really caring about the exact specifics, trusting that Nakamura had both his and the agency's best interest in mind, as he and Yaoyorozu crafted it. Slowly he flipped through the last few pages until he arrived at the very last one. His brows furrowed in concentration as he stared at the empty line at the bottom.

"What day is it?" he asked almost automatically, even though he knew.

Nakamura answered anyway: "The 19th."

Enji already scribbled the date into the empty field. He stopped suddenly, glancing up at Nakamura. "I see you've worked very hard to make sure I'm a divorced man by Christmas."

Nakamura smiled back almost sympathetically. "I'm not Christian," he said in a mild voice.

"Neither am I. But I hear it's a… rather couple-y festivity." He looked somewhere between amused and dejected.

"As far as I know you will work anyway," Nakamura offered.

Enji sighed. "True." And within an instant he scribbled his name on the document. "New Year too," he added. Which was much more celebrated than Christmas.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," Nakamura said, still in a sympathetic voice.

"Don't be," Enji waved it off. He pressed a button on his intercom on the desk to call Inari in.

"Ah, you're finished." Inari said the moment he came inside. "It's getting late, I was about to pack up."

Enji looked at the clock again, for the first time registering how late it was. Both Inari and Nakamura were working overtime again. He shook his head, tiredly. For the first time in years – if ever – Enji felt like he needed a vacation. Though, of course, what would he even do then? Sit around at home…? Well, maybe he would decide to go and repair the house himself. He could never sit around doing nothing for longer than a normal weekend, if that.

"What are your plans for Christmas?" Nakamura asked back at Inari as if he was actually interested in the subject.

Inari's brows furrowed in confusion. "Christmas?" He repeated, looking from the lawyer to his employer and back. "I will work, I assume?" he glanced questioningly at Enji, who simply nodded almost feeling bad about it although they had talked about it before.

Nakamura stood up from his chair with an amused chuckle. "We're a rare trio, huh?" he asked with no regret in his voice. "You're married, right? I thought maybe you had at last some plans."

Enji didn't know if he should feel slighted for being so casually counted as 'not married' already, as if he and Nakamura both shared in being single, when he was very much still married. Inari seemed to think similarly, because he looked at Enji questioningly before he visibly caught up to the meaning of Nakamura's words. Thankfully he didn't pry. After all he knew the reason or their late meeting anyway.

"Uh, sure, I have plans for a late dinner with my wife. I will only work until four on Tuesday."

Enji nodded again as if Inari was asking for permission to leave early, when in truth it was already arranged and agreed upon.

"We booked a table at a nice Restaurant just down the 23rd." Inari looked a little uncomfortable speaking about his private life like that, Enji thought. No wonder, it made Enji uncomfortable too. He didn't speak about his family either when he was at work. At least not until recently when his family had become front and center and he couldn't escape talking about it, even at work. Enji only got used to it very slowly.

"Just your wife?" Nakamura asked, oblivious to Inari's discomfort and to the fact that Inari had just been in the process of packing up to go home and probably didn't want to get roped up in a lengthy conversation about Christmas plans of all things. "What about your daughters?"

Inari shifted a little at the door. "Yuu has a date. Mina spends the entire vacation on Kyushu with my sister-in-law and her family," he answered. He made a face as if he could imagine a thousand things, he'd rather do than visiting his sister-in-law. Enji, who had never visited his sisters-in-law in the 27 years of his marriage to Rei, thought he could relate. Then again, the reason he never visited was not because of some personal dislike.

"What about your youngest?"

And it was only then that Enji realized why Nakamura felt so comfortable asking private questions, while Inari did not. Obviously, they were talking about Inari's family regularly. Nakamura apparently knew the names of Inari's girls, even their ages apparently, while Enji only ever knew that Inari had three daughters. It was probably not the questions themselves that made Inari uncomfortable, but Enji's presence. It made sense, he decided. Both Inari and Nakamura worked very closely with each other almost all day every day on this floor of the agency, while Enji himself was in and out for patrols and individual incidents, only really spending prolonged time in the office when he was needed to put his signature on some document or another. Of course, they would talk about other things than just work during all these hours working together.

"She doesn't know yet," Inari answered, tapping his foot impatiently.

It was the cue for Endeavor to interrupt the conversation. He stood up, collecting the divorce agreement from his desk. "Can you make sure these are sent to Yaoyorozu Machi?" He briefly sorted through the papers to make sure it looked tidy and nothing was crumpled, before handing them over to Inari. "The address…"

"Is in the computer," Inari finished the sentence grabbing the document and leafing through the pages himself for a few seconds. "I'll get it done."

When Inari apparently accepted the tidiness of the documents, he turned to leave Nakamura and Enji alone.

"Right," Nakamura said after a moment of awkward silence, knocking on the desk. "Good evening." He bowed shortly and left after Inari.

Enji leaned back in his chair. Outside he could hear Nakamura and Inari continue their conversation for a few moments until one of them – he assumed Inari – finally left. Enji listened to his retreating steps. It got quiet again.

His shoulders sagged a little. It was done. He had signed the papers, now it was out of his hands. By tomorrow, he assumed Rei would have signed as well, then they only needed to wait for the written statement by the psychiatrist who had evaluated Rei and by Monday next week, when Yaoyorozu would deliver the whole package to the City Hall. He had no real hope that something would suddenly change and Rei would reconsider, or the expert would reconsider in his assessment of her or City Hall would for some reason reject their request for divorce. It was done.

Should he feel relieved that it was essentially over? He massaged his temples. The headaches were getting worse, he noted absentmindedly. He tried to relax, but no matter how often his doctor told him that he had to relieve stress to combat his high blood pressure, Enji had no idea how to. So, after a few minutes, he essentially jumped out of his seat.

He was already in the elevator pressing the button to ground level, when he remembered annoyed that his house was still not repaired and he still lived in one of the agency departments. Frustrated, he pressed the button to the 26th floor multiple times, but the elevator had already passed it and like the useless machine it was, it drove all the way down before turning direction to move back up. Enji was about to smash the panel in, when a woman from Support joined him in the elevator. She glanced at him, bowed in greeting and then rode down to the ground floor with him. He nodded back and then essentially shrank against the elevator walls, embarrassed at his childish impatience.

In his apartment he realized that while it was late for Inari and Nakamura to still be in the office, it was actually not that late all things considered. It was just past nine. He was tired because of days of bad or no sleep, and it was already dark outside because it was the middle of December, but it was not actually time to sleep.

He turned the TV on, switched through the channels until he found a comedy he didn't actually care about, but at least it was not the news. He didn't watch anyway, it just served as background noise. He took a quick shower. Although he had all the time in the world and the agency could easily afford wasting a bit of hot water, he only enjoyed the cool spray of water for fifteen minutes before stepping out of the much too narrow shower, not knowing what to do with the rest of the evening.

There was laughter from the TV. A laugh track or maybe even a live audience, he didn't know.

Restless, he went to the kitchen, considering if it was too late for dinner, before making a pack of instant soup. It was about all the food in the apartment. He hadn't gone grocery shopping, but the agency provided a measly offering of non-perishable packaged dishes for all the apartments.

He didn't cook often, and he wasn't particularly good at it. He also, if he were honest, didn't particularly care for soup, but he would manage. Instant soup was easy to make, even for him.

It made him think of Fuyumi again. He missed her cooking. He even started to miss Irina's Russian stews, he realized somewhat surprised.

It took ten minutes to make the soup and then just as long to gulp it down, still boiling hot. He didn't even register the heat in his throat until it laid uncomfortably but not painfully in his stomach.

Thinking about Fuyumi he looked at the clock again. It was just before ten now. Not too late to call, he realized. And they were back on speaking terms, so there was nothing stopping him.

He pushed the empty bowl aside and closed the offer he had open on the table from a construction company regarding the restoration of the façade, he had scanned while eating.

Over the phone Fuyumi sounded a little tired and muffled, as if she was yawning while greeting him.

"Hey Dad," she mumbled a little. He heard odd noises through the line, like she was brushing the phone against cotton. He imagined her sitting on the odd couch in that odd sitting corner of her tiny apartment were no furniture would fit to the next. She was probably getting comfortable there, that might have been the cause for the sounds coming through the line. Or maybe she had been watching a late movie before going to bed. He wondered if she had moved the sunflower by now, so it could get some light.

He decided that was as good a question as any to start casual conversation.

"Hello Fuyumi, how's that sunflower doing?" he asked with a smile, even though he was almost a bit embarrassed at his inept way to start a conversation.

Maybe she realized that too. "You call to inquire about the sunflower?" she asked amused. Again there were sounds he couldn't quite place. "I didn't move it," she admitted. "Wait, let me… Azumi!" She called out to her house mate. He assumed she had a finger on the speaker, because her voice was more muffled now, but if she didn't want him to listen in, she did a bad job at it. "I moved the flower." There was an unintelligible response. "Yeah, it's my dad." Again Azumi answered something.

"Azumi wants me to greet you," Fuyumi told him.

Again there were sounds he couldn't place.

"Thanks," he started, but he realized she wasn't listening when there was no reaction from the other side. Patiently he waited until she picked the phone back up again. When he heard her slightly heavier breathing, he spoke up again. "Tell her thanks," he said. He didn't know Azumi at all, only met her once and the only thing he remembered was how tall she was and her bad attitude toward him. "So, the sunflower is in the sun now?" he asked amused.

"Dad, it's dark," Fuyumi laughed, making him blush in embarrassment a s he glanced outside. "But he will be as soon as the sun comes up."

"He?" he asked, confused.

"It," she corrected immediately. "He… Azumi named it All Might." She sounded a little subdued for a moment, as if anticipating his reaction, but then quickly perked up again. "Because it's so bright and yellow."

"No, I can see it," Enji muttered with a slight smile shaking his head. "It's a fitting name."

Fuyumi giggled. "I told her it fit."

"Does she name all the plants?" he asked despite not really caring for Fuyumi's house mate.

"Uh… yeah?" there was an embarrassed pause. "But the names keep changing, so I don't know how they are called now. Only All Might stays the same."

There was a short break, because really, he didn't really care that much about the plants or Azumi or the apartment in general. If these cowards of JfN hadn't put his house on fire, Fuyumi would have already moved back in with him.

He realized she was waiting until he said something, stating the reason for his call. If he waited any longer, she would probably ask.

"I signed the divorce agreement," he blurted it out without her having to ask.

She stayed quiet for a moment. For a second he thought she wouldn't respond at all, when he heard her quiet voice.

"I'm glad."

There was something in her tone. She sounded oddly subdued, not like she was anticipating a reaction of him, just… muted, in a way.

"Are you?" he asked doubtfully.

Again, she needed a moment to respond. "Of course."

He sighed, closing his eyes. Why did he only realize this now? "We never asked you, did we?"

"Huh?"

"What you thought about us divorcing. We never asked you for your opinion." He felt bad about it. When Rei asked for the divorce, all he had done was call his children to tell them of the already made decision. He hadn't even asked them of their thoughts. Granted, it hadn't been his decision to make. If he were the one to decide, there would be no divorce, he was still convinced of that, even if now he slowly started to accept that it might be the best option.

"It's not my decision to make," Fuyumi said sadly. "And if I'm honest, back then, I would have probably agreed." There was a little regret in her voice. "I was still mad at you."

Enji had to agree. "Still…"

"Don't beat yourself up over it. It's not my decision, and it's probably for the best. For Mom," she hesitated briefly, "and you too, I think."

"Hm," he hummed undecided whether to believe or doubt her. He was lonely, he knew. This divorce would just make him lonelier.

"Don't you think?" she asked in a worried tone. "You were as chained to her as she was to you, right?"

Again, he just hummed his agreement. But again, he didn't know if being 'chained' – as she so aptly put it – to a wife he couldn't see was better or worse to the alternative.

"The holidays are coming up," he said, not sure if it was a sequitur to their discussion so far, or if he simply remembered his conversation with Nakamura and Inari earlier.

"Yeah," she replied sadly. "The timing is awful." He could basically hear her apologetic smile. "It's the last week of school," she perked up a little. "So then, I will have two weeks of free time."

"You can come visit at some point," he invited her. "My interim apartment here is tiny, but it still beats your glorified student dorm," he laughed.

"Hey," she cried with a mixture of petulance and humor. "It's not so bad."

"Any plans for Christmas or New Years?" he asked.

He didn't even know why he was asking. Was he prying for a dinner invitation knowing he would have to decline as he would have to work on both days? Or was it the memory of Inari talking about his daughters and realizing he had no idea what his kids were planning for the holidays.

"Eh… I thought I…" she stammered sounding embarrassed. "Hey, how about you visit for dinner on the 26th?" she asked, distracting from his question.

He didn't really linger on it. Obviously, she had plans she didn't want to talk about. Well, she was 23. If she had some date she didn't want her old man to know about, maybe it bugged him a little, but no reason to make a scene.

"Can't," he answered immediately. "Work."

"Dad, you can't be working the entire time?" she cried, a little exasperated.

"I'm afraid I gave too many Sidekicks off for the holidays," he explained. "Someone has to take up the slack. So, it's work and sleep, work and sleep." He sounded tired, he realized. He was tired.

She didn't pick up on it, or maybe she just didn't mention it. "You're impossible," she reprimanded.

They talked a little longer, about the house, about her work and about Shoto's coming up internship with Gang Orca. It still bugged Enji a little that Shoto had not even asked him, really. He understood it, after he had basically refused to teach him Flashfire and with all the media attention on Endeavor, never mind the new problem surrounding the JfN… Enji would have to reject him anyway, as he had no time for an intern at the moment, but it bugged him anyway, that Shoto hadn't even asked.


End file.
